Deadline on Publicis/Sapient deal extended for fourth time
Sapient shareholders have been given an extension to accept Publics Groupe’s $3.7bn buy out for the fourth time.
The deadline, which was previously Thursday 22 January, has been changed to 5 February 2015.
Previous delays in closing the deal have been blamed on the additional time needed to deal with US regulatory requirements, with a Publicis statement claiming additional time is needed “for the satisfaction of the CFIUS Condition and the FOCI Mitigation Plan Condition”.
At the time of the deal in November 2014, Publicis Groupe chairman and chief executive Maurice Levy called Sapient “a crown jewel” company that would give the group “access to new markets” and “create new revenue streams”.
“The acquisition fulfils many of Publicis Groupe’s objectives: we will enhance our leadership position in digital, achieve our goal of deriving 50 per cent of our revenues from digital and technology three years ahead of our 2018 plan, and leverage technology, consulting capabilities to expand in new verticals, and offering new and exciting opportunities to our talents,” he said.
Publicis Groupe is looking to purchase all the outstanding shares of common stock in Sapient for $25 per share. A total 113,602,382 shares of Sapient have been acquired since 22 January, representing 80.6 per cent of the Sapient’s outstanding shares.
Shareholders who have already tendered their stock are not affected by the extension.