Maurice Levy on the obstacles facing Publicis-Omnicom merger
Publicis CEO Maurice Levy expects his company's merger with Omnicom to be completed at the beginning of next year and insists the biggest advertising deal in history will not be knocked off course by regulators or client conflicts.
In an interview with the French edition of the Huffington Post, Levy fronted up to some of the biggest issues facing the so-called 'merger of equals' that will create the world's biggest advertising company - including the suggestion that it will damage industry competition.
Asked whether there was any danger the merger could break down, Levy said: "No. Our lawyers are confident that all clearances will be obtained. I expect our competitors to put some obstructions in our way. Our competitors are energetically lobbying analysts, clients and journalists. But if you look at our stock market valuation, you can see it's doing fine: The marketplace believes in us."
On whether the deal would be sealed before the end of this year, he replied: "More likely beginning of next year".
One of the most intriguing aspects of the deal, raised by the Bank of America among others, is the potential for client conflicts - the biggest conflict potentially arising from Coca-Cola's advertising contract being tied up in Publicis and Pepsi's in Omnicom.
Levy deflected the issue to some degree by referencing the client list of rival WPP, but did admit that the companies need to find "solutions" to the problem.
He said: "This question has been raised by our competitors. But at WPP, for example, their clients within the same group include Colgate-Palmolive, Unilever, Procter & Gamble, Kimberly-Clark and part of Estée Lauder [Editor's note: all are multinational corporations that produce hygiene-related consumer products].
"The fact that we serve clients who operate in the same market segment is part of normal life for our agencies. We do not plan to consolidate our networks. Clients will continue to have the same number of agencies to choose from and to be served by their current agencies. The potential for conflicts is hardly a revelation, and it's up to us to find solutions. We're working on it."
Levy also insisted that the two companies' corporate cultures were not so different that they cannot meld together.
"There are some differences in terms of corporate culture. They are American, we are French. They're attached to their roots, and so are we, but today, already, 48 percent of our revenue stems from the United States."
You can read the full interview here.