Australia – The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has come out publicly and say that it ‘will not oppose’ the acquisition of Interpublic Group of Companies (IPG) by Omnicom Group.
It should be noted that the merger was officially confirmed in December 2024, which aims to combine both company’s marketing talent, as well as it services and products, driven by advanced sales and marketing platforms.
In its latest statement, ACCC considers that the proposed acquisition would be unlikely to substantially lessen competition in the supply of media buying services and marketing and communications services.
“Our investigation found that while the proposed acquisition would result in an increase in the parties’ combined market share, other suppliers of media buying and marketing and communications services would continue to effectively compete with Omnicom after the acquisition,” ACCC Commissioner Dr Philip Williams said.
The commission has also noted that remaining advertising, media and communications conglomerates, including WPP, Publicis and Dentsu, will continue to compete with Omnicom after the acquisition, as well as smaller independent providers of these services.
ACCC commenced informal review of the merger locally under its Informal Merger Review Process Guidelines back in May this year.
In Australia, Omnicom’s key brands include DDB, TBWA, OMD Worldwide, PHD Media, Clemenger Group and Hearts & Science. Meanwhile, Interpublic’s key brands in Australia include IPG Mediabrands, Universal McCann (UM), Initiative, 303 MullenLowe and Octagon.
