Aegis Group (LSE:AGS)
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PARIS (Dow Jones)--Aegis Group PLC (AGS.LN) Wednesday said it will sell its market research arm Synovate to French group Ipsos SA (IPS.FR) for an enterprise value of GBP525 million in a move that will drastically change the future of the U.K. advertising and marketing group and make Ipsos the world's third-largest market research company.

"The announcement today of the proposed sale of Synovate to Ipsos represents the largest structural change in the history of Aegis," said Aegis Chief Executive Jerry Buhlmann.

The sale of Synovate will mean Aegis is focused predominantly on media buying through its Aegis Media business. The London-based group said it will return GBP200 million of the sale proceeds to shareholders via a special dividend and use the rest on acquisitions to strengthen the remainder of the group, mainly in digital and emerging markets.

Still, when Aegis said in June it was in talks with Ipsos about a sale of Synovate, speculation resurfaced that such a sale could lead to a wider break-up of the company, and could open the door for larger rival ad groups such as Publicis Groupe SA (PUB.FR) to make a bid for the rest of the company.

Publicis' CEO Maurice Levy told Dow Jones Newswires in June that even though it was too early to show an interest in Aegis Media, his company was "attentive" to what was happening at Aegis. Publicis wasn't immediately available to comment Wednesday.

When asked what he made of such speculation, Buhlmann said Wednesday that Aegis "is stronger today than it was yesterday" and that he is "excited about taking the business forward."

The Synovate sale is expected to close at the end of September, subject to antitrust and shareholder approval. Aegis said Vincent Bollore, the company's largest shareholder with a 26.5% stake, has agreed to vote in favour of the deal.

The sale excludes the scan data services business Aztec, which Aegis was keen to retain as it sees some synergies with its media business, Buhlmann said.

Ipsos will finance the deal with EUR250 million of debt, a rights issue of EUR200 million to Ipsos' shareholders and existing facilities and available cash. The acquisition will make Ipsos the world's third-largest market research company by revenue, surpassing Germany's GfK SE (GFK.XE) but behind Nielsen Holdings N.V. (NLSN) and WPP PLC's (WPP.LN) Kantar.

At 0843 GMT, Aegis shares were trading down 1.7% to 161 pence while Ipsos shares were down 1.6% to EUR30.82 in lower London and Paris markets.

-By Ruth Bender, Dow Jones Newswires; +33 1 40 17 17 54; ruth.bender@dowjones.com