You’ve got to admire the mettle of the man. Publicis Groupe chief executive Maurice Lévy may have his hands full with a corruption scandal at Betterway, one of PG’s principal Chinese subsidiaries, but his appetite for acquisitions in that part of the world is undiminished.
It has come to my attention that PG is close to striking a deal with a Beijing agency called Oriental & Rende. Never heard of it? I’m not altogether surprised. It’s a smallish specialised agency with revenue estimated at $10m in 2011. But don’t underestimate its strategic significance. This is a way into the booming “Made in China” car business. O&R does what used to be called through-the-line work (advertising, PR, events etc) for many of the Chinese automobile joint-venture companies. Its biggest client by far is FAW, which is allied to VW, Mercedes and Hyundai.
It is believed that WPP earlier showed interest in acquiring O&R but, for reasons which are not yet apparent, decided to pull out of discussions.
Posted by stuartsmithsblog 
