French advertising group Publicis last night launched a $1.3bn friendly takeover bid for Digitas, a US specialist in online advertising and other forms of digital and interactive marketing. Publicis offered $13.50 in cash for each Nasdaq-listed Digitas share, a premium of 23.5 per cent over the price of Digitas shares on December 19.
Publicis was advised on the deal by Jean-Marie Messier’s Messier & Associés. Digitas was advised by Bear Stearns.
