Publicis Groupe has extended the deadline for its deal to acquire the Sapient group, selling 1.3bn Euro ($1.9bn) of bonds to fund it.
Last month the French holding group announced its offer of $4.2bn to buy the services group, which includes the SapientNitro agency in Asia Pacific, but overnight announced it was extending the deadline to 23rd December as it waits for the last chunk of 21 per cent of shares to be sold.
The group also announced the deal had been cleared by German and US regulators. The acquisition is part of a plan for Publicis to bolster rapidly its digital footprint after the proposed “merger of equals” with Omnicom fell through earlier this year.
Overnight the group also announced the bond offer, which it will use to fund the purchase, but said it has the option to recall the bonds if they do not complete the Sapient deal before 30th June 2015.
The Sapient buyout was a significant deal for Publicis Groupe to gear up for the Digital age advertising.
