Evening Standard (London): Publicis in pole position as Aegis bid war hots up

AEGIS was on the move today amid media reports swirling over the Channel that Paris-based Publicis will table a formal bid.

Britain's largest independent advertising business told the markets a week ago it had received a 140p-a-share approach, valuing it at Pounds 1.56 billion, without revealing the identity of the suitor.

The bidder turned out to be Publicis, the Evening Standard revealed, the world's fourth-largest advertising group and owner of Saatchi Saatchi.

Talks are ongoing between Aegis's London financial advisers Greenhill Co and Publicis's bankers at UBS. Both sides have signed a "standstill agreement", which prevents the French from launching a hostile bid.

A Publicis executive today insisted that chairman Maurice Levy has yet to meet Aegis's British chief executive Robert Lerwill as the Frenchman has been in New York on business.

The prospect of a bidding war heated up as French corporate raider Vincent Bollore admitted he had raised his stake in Aegis, for the second time in a week, to almost 9%. Talk refuses to die down that French ad agency Havas, where Bollore has built a 22% stake and ousted the chief executive, might also be in the running for Aegis.

Aegis shares added 1/2p to 140p.

The first nine months of the year have been the busiest for City corporate financiers in five years. The final quarter shows every sign of carrying on at the same pace - all good news for forthcoming annual bonuses - as Britain's most valuable mobile phones operator, Vodafone, signalled it was on the lookout for further European acquisitions.

Chief executive Arun Sarin said today during a visit to the Czech Republic that he may bid for Turkey's Telsim, which has a market value of about $2.8 billion (Pounds 1.59 billion). Vodafone, off 1/ 2p to 147p, is among 10 firms ready to bid for Telsim by a 5 December deadline.

A year of heated takeover activity generally is helping Europe's largest quoted venture capital firm 3i, up 1/2p to 7881/2p. The buyout specialist delivered a positive trading update yesterday about prospects for healthy returns on its array of investments. Merrill Lynch analyst Philip Middleton has upped his target to 990p.

Afternoon trading saw the FTSE 100 index of blue-chip shares briefly fall into negative territory before recovering to be up 8.1 points at 5486.3, after reaching a morning high of 5506.1. On Wall Street, the Dow opened down 20.2 at 10,532.6.

Government figures out today showed US personal spending fell in August by the most in more than two years while inflation accelerated, fuelling fears of further interest rate rises.

Among London's new full house of online gaming stocks, the atmosphere is a bit flat.

Blackjack specialist 888.com was dealt a bum hand on just its second day of trading. Having launched at 175p - the bottom end of a pricing range arranged by HSBC financiers - it closed 5p lower yesterday and was marked down another 31/4p to 1663/4p today.

PartyGaming, which warned on slowing industry growth earlier this month - less than three months after coming to market - managed to add 51/2p to 93p, making it the biggest gainer among the leading stocks. In early morning trade, it was still on a losing streak, down to a record-low 851/2p against a 116p float price in June.

Around Pounds 3.5 billion has been wiped off its value since the shares peaked at 176p shortly after listing.

Miller Lite-to-Peroni brewer SABMiller frothed up 22p to 1110p after a positive note from brokers at Deutsche Bank who raised their target to 1250p.

Brokers at UBS have raised their sights for Centrica, up 23/4p to 2461/4p, from 290p to 305p. Talk refuses to die down that the British Gas owner could be on the receiving end of a takeover bid from Russia's Gazprom or Gaz de France.

The ousted founder of Regal Petroleum, Frank Timis, has increased his stake in the oil explorer.

Trustees of Timis Trust have bought one million Regal shares, taking its stake to 7.26% of the company. Regal leaped 171/2p to 1051/2p.

Computer games magazine publisher Future slumped 8p to 68p after warning headline profits would be 10% down on last year, its second profit warning since June.