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Havas-Aegis deal rolls on

A deal between media groups Aegis and Havas – which sees Havas media agency brand MPG mostly operated by Aegis in Australia – is to continue after negotiations were completed.

The deal originally came into being before the acquisition of Mitchells by Aegis, and has since persisted with MPG owned 80% by Aegis and 20% by Havas, the French communications group that fully owns the MPG brand in other markets.

The existence of the MPG brand in Australia came into question after the media agency lost key client Optus in March, which followed a move by Aegis to take staff and clients from MPG to resource the re-launch of Vizeum.

But after the Optus loss, MPG’s regional boss Vishnu Mohan told Mumbrella: “There is absolutely no question of the MPG brand stopping its operations in Australia.”

Havas was not available for comment at the time of writing.

However, Aegis told Mumbrella: “The relationship between Aegis Media and Havas rolls on. MPG and Media Contacts maintain a strong presence in Australia with a succession of new business wins in the past year including Madman, Net-a-Porter, Stainmaster, CityIndex and Beaute Prestige, while continuing to work with long-term clients including Medibank, Homesafe, Funtastic, Sapporo and Frostbland.”

The news comes as Japanese advertising giant Dentsu moved in to acquire Aegis.

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