Publicis,Troyka Set To Announce Mega Acquisition

All appears set for the much anticipated announcement of an acquisition deal between Troyka Holdings and Paris based agency network Publicis. The deal which promises to be the biggest and most far-reaching partnership in the history of agency affiliations in Nigeria could be announced in the coming weeks.

To make way for the acquisition which has been in the works since 2013, Troyka and the network of agencies under it have severed relationships with other foreign agencies. While Publicis and the network of agencies under it have also disengaged its Nigeria affiliates.

Perhaps the biggest casualty of this proposed agency realignment is Rosabel Advertising Limited, which lost a 16 year long relationship with Leo Burnett, one of Publicis’ agencies. Rosabel’s media agency Starcom Media has also forfeited its affiliation with Starcom Media Vest. This deal, which came as a shock to the management of Rosabel Group, giving the robust relationship its agency network has enjoyed with the French group, further aggravated the existing frosty relationship between the owners of Rosabel and Troyka Holdings.

In preparation for the mega acquisition, Troyka last year ditched its relationship with Martin Sorrel’s WPP network of agencies, while its PR shop, The Quadrant Company abandoned its technical partnership with Fleischman Hilliard in favour of Publicis Groupe’s Public Affairs/Corporate Communications and Events Agency MSLGROUP. Similarly, Media Perspectives dumped its affiliation with Carat Worldwide to a new comer, Media Fuse owned by Emeka Okeke, founding CEO of Carat Media Perspectives.

These series of network alignments and realignments are obviously to make way for Troyka Group to fully warehouse the Publicis brands as its full-fledged partner in Nigeria and also to leave room for seamless integration across a number specialist marketing service companies within both networks. The deal will see Publicis acquire a 25 per cent holding in the Nigerian network.

Meanwhile across the wide network of Troyka’s agencies, there is a palpable cloud of excitement and pride in anticipation of the deal and the imminent change in status that is expected to accompany it. Some of the officials of the network told MARKETING EDGE that it is going to be the most outstanding event in the marketing communications sector in Nigeria and beyond.

According to sources, the acquisition could have been consummated much earlier but for some technical hurdles which could not be wished away, but the hurdles were finally overcome during the last quarter of 2015 and by December the final details were resolved and the deal perfected. Troyka has subsequently begun the process for the necessary change in nomenclature. The network has since stopped giving out in-house creative in anticipation of the conversion.

Though Mr. Biodun Shobanjo, CEO Troyka Holding would not comment on the deal, one of the top officials of the agency who spoke to MARKETING EDGE on the condition that his name is not mentioned confirmed that the afcquisition is all but done. “The deal is 99.5 per cent done. All the details have been sorted out, but Troyka Holdings is waiting for Publicis to make the first pronouncement, before we can then go public,” he said.

But in a bid to get confirmation of the report from Publicis Groupe MARKETING EDGE sent a mail to the network but was yet to get a response as at the time of filling this report.

The merger which was entered into at the behest of Publicis, the third largest network in the world, is part of the agency’s global expansion policy and its new found impetus to be more aggressive in the African market, with Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy, being a key part of that plan. Analysts have said that the move is geared to properly position the agency, as Nigeria has been predicted to be one of the frontiers for global business growth.

Though the volume of the affiliation deal in terms of money cannot be ascertained as yet, our source insisted that industry stands to benefit a lot as it will set it on a path of true capital injection, corporate governance and professionalism that will ensure continuity rather than the usually lopsided affiliation relationships. “The industry is most likely on the path to building world-class legacy institutions that will stand the test of time”, he said.

Publicis is third biggest agency network in the world. It has presence in 108 countries in six continents with professional staffers in excess of 62,000. Maurice Levy is the lead agency in the network which offers a full range of services and skills through multiple interests and brands in different service sectors such as: Digital (DigitasLBi, Razorfish, Rosetta, VivaKi); Advertising (BBH, Leo Burnett, Publicis Worldwide, Saatchi & Saatchi); Public affairs /corporate communications and events (MSLGROUP); Media strategy, planning and buying (Starcom MediaVest Group and ZenithOptimedia) while in Healthcare communications it parades Publicis Healthcare Communications Group (PHCG), and finally, Brand Asset Production interest is named Prodigious.

Troyka Holdings with thousands of staff comprises Insight Communications, Optimum Exposure, Media Perspective, MediaCom, The Quadrant Company, Hotsauce and Halogen Security.