The Financial Times reported last week that French giant advertising firm, Publicis Groupe is about to conclude a deal with Brazilian ad agency, Talent, that will see it acquire a majority stake in Talent. According to the Financial Times report, the Publicis deal could value Talent at around $200 million.

Talent is one of Brazil’s foremost ad agencies and is a privately held firm. Earlier, another firm, the UK based advertizing giant WPP Plc had reported that it was mulling an investment in Talent. However, the Financial Times report said WPP Plc will most likely not be making a counter bid for Talent.

The reports further indicated that the French ad giant, Publicis, was already in advanced talks for a stake acquisitions and an announcement may be made soon. Sources close to the deal reiterated that the negotiations for the investment might be concluded by early September and will be structured as a joint venture, with Talent’s partners still closely involved in operating the firm.

Even so, Publicis and WPP Plc would not comment on the details of the transaction. This comes as the second acquisition attempt by the French ad giant, Publicis, in Brazil this month. Earlier this month, Publicis purchased one of Brazil’s foremost, largest independent digital marketing firms, AG2. The deal will give Paris-based Publicis, the world's third-largest advertising group, access to Talent's 200 staff and clients which include Sony Corp and Santander, the FT said.

Publicis Groupe is a French multinational advertising and communications company. It is one of the big three global advertising holding companies (the two others being Omnicom, and WPP). Publicis Groupe S.A. provides traditional advertising, media services, and specialized agencies and marketing services SAMS) to national and multinational clients.

Its traditional advertising services principally involve the creation of advertising for products, services, and brands. It also include strategic planning involving analysis of a product, service, or brand compared to its competitors through market research, sociological and psychological studies, and creative insight.

The deal underlines global marketing groups’ appetite to pay premium prices for a piece of the fast-growing Latin American media market, ahead of Brazil hosting both the football World Cup in 2014 and the Olympics in 2016. For Talent, the investment will allow the agency and its clients to use Publicis’ global reach and network, as Brazilian companies seek to move into global markets.

29 Aug 2010.