AEGIS’S immediate destiny lies in the hands of Vincent Bolloré, the French corporate raider, who escaped yesterday being tagged as a concert party to a failed £1.6 billion takeover bid for the media buyer from WPP and Hellman & Friedman.

The Takeover Panel ruled that WPP and Hellman & Friedman would not be able to make a hostile bid for Aegis for six months after missing a noon “put up or shut up” deadline — but it left M Bolloré with a free hand.

As WPP formally abandoned its bid, it issued a statement saying that it had made “alternative cash offers” to Aegis, one of which included “possibly one other party” — understood to be M Bolloré. Both were rejected.

In the late afternoon, WPP put out a second statement, quoting from its offer letter to Aegis and saying that it was prepared to offer 130p in cash in conjunction with Hellman & Friedman. In addition, if the joint bid involving M Bolloré had been finalised, it would have “been in excess of 140p”.

Aegis was dismissive of both statements. Robert Lerwill, the company’s chief executive, accused WPP — run by his rival Sir Martin Sorrell — and its partners of not making “a credible proposal”. Aegis insiders said that they had received “a joke letter” outlining the bid that came with pages of pre-conditions attached.

M Bolloré retains a 25 per cent stake in Aegis and, with a holding of that size, is in clear control of the media buyer’s immediate future. With WPP on the sidelines, and another rival, Publicis Group, also eliminated after abandoning its own bid last month, M Bolloré has time to consider his strategy.

Two weeks ago, M Bolloré flirted with the idea of joining WPP when his advisers, HR Finance, asked Aegis if they could have two months to conduct due diligence with a view to a possible bid for the British group. That was rejected by the Aegis board, and there has been no dialogue since involving the Frenchman.

This year M Bolloré took a 23 per cent stake in Havas, a struggling French marketing services group, and installed himself as chairman. M Bolloré bought into Aegis in August, triggering speculation that he would try to engineer a merger with Havas. The British group is opposed to that.

The Frenchman is free to make a bid or Aegis, but he would have to offer at least 143¾p a share, because Takeover Panel rules require him to match the highest price at which he bought shares in the market. A spokesman for M Bolloré declined to comment yesterday. Aegis shares eased 3¼p to 117¾p.

Times Recommends

• Minister in talks with Saudis to protect creditors
• Premier Inn hits back in £29-a-room row
• Bankers hit back at 'populist' bonus supertax