Dentsu Negotiating Fischer&Friends Acquisition

The Japanese holding company’s Board of Directors is going to discuss the acquisition of the Brazilian agency this week

By Alexandre Zaghi Lemos and Regina Augusto

Dentsu’s global board of directors is meeting in Tokyo this Friday, Feb. 17, which may lead to a major change in the Brazilian advertising agency market. An acquisition to drive the Japanese holding company’s plan to achieve a prominent position in Brazil quickly is on the agenda, among other items. Fischer&Friends, controlled by Mr. Eduardo Fischer, tops the list of preferences. However, Mr. Alexandre Gama’s Neogama/BBH is another choice.

The negotiations are being conducted by Mr. Renato Loes, Dentsu’s CEO in Brazil, who reports all the financial issues to American Tim Andree, Dentsu Network West’s CEO. Both are going to submit the expansion plan to the other officials of the Japanese holding company. It is worth noting that Dentsu has just acquired interactive agency Lov, one of the largest independent agencies in the Brazilian digital market.

In addition to this opportunity to acquire one of the few major independent advertising agencies in Brazil, Dentsu would also like to have an integrated communications company operating in fields like events, promotion, sports and trade marketing. In fact, this intention is one of the reasons for it to approach Fischer and Neogama, which belong to groups with a wider range of operations.

Mr. Fischer and Mr. Gama have repeatedly denied any negotiations to sell their agencies even though they confirm that they have been approached by multinational groups. Nevertheless, rumor has it that both have sought companies specializing in Mergers & Acquisitions for help. Dentsu Brasil, in turn, confirms that it is in an advanced stage of negotiations with a major Brazilian agency and expects the acquisition to be completed soon.