More than two years after UK ad holding company Aegis first considered selling off its marketing and research unit Synovate, the company is in deal talks with France’s Ipsos, Mediapost reports.

Aegis Group is continuing its expansion into China, with the acquisition of a 17.7 percent stake in media buyer and ad agency Charm Communications. Terms weren’t disclosed, but Aegis says that Charm’s total gross assets are $143 million. As part of this acquisition, Aegis’s Vizeum unit is forming a joint…

Its profits rose by a quarter in 2008, but that won’t stop advertising and research group Aegis cutting 780, or five percent of its global workforce, in an attempt to save almost £40 million across 40 countries to counteract the downturn in media spending. About 70 of the cuts will…

Aegis chairman John Napier, who became interim CEO in November after Robert Lerwill’s departure, is wasting no time putting on the ad group the kind of imprint that Lerwill himself had resisted so vehemently. Times Online says Napier has enlisted Merrill Lynch for a strategic review of the company, which…

—McCann Erickson: The ad agency is parting ways with its digital director Gavin Forth “by mutual consent”, just four months after joining from Orange. In a statement, the outfit said it was a key part of its 2009 strategy to “build the senior team in this area, “actively seeking to…

Aegis Media warned in an interim trading statement today that “current uncertainty in financial markets and the more negative outlook for the global economy” was making it difficult for the communications group to forecast “accurate levels of client spend” for the fourth quarter. The company also reported slowing demand in…

Media firm Aegis Group continues its international acquisition streak with the purchase of Malaysian digital ad agency IF. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, though Aegis said IF’s assets were valued at £0.1m. Founded in 2002 and headquartered in Kuala Lumpur, IF offers creative, multimedia and online media planning…

Media buying and planning firm Aegis Group’s latest acquisition is a little off the beaten path. It has bought fellow London-based company Clownfish, which helps advise marketers on crafting more eco-friendly, “sustainable” initiatives. The acquisition’s terms weren’t detailed, though Aegis said Clownfish has £500,000 in gross assets. While the purchase…

The first six months of ‘08 were fairly eventful for media agency holding company Aegis: it made 14 acquisitions, as profits rose 16.7 percent on a constant currency basis to £65 million and revenue was up 21.8 percent to £607.6 million. And as its rivals race to increase their share…

Marketing and comms group Aegis’ digital agency Isobar is buying Russia’s 76-employee AdWatch, which does online ad buying, planning and digital PR for clients like Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) and Canon. FT says the buy gives Isboar 23 percent of a Russian market that will see $351 million digital ad spent…

Aegis Group has bought German online marketing consultancy rmsarcar.com, its second international digital acquisition in two weeks. Financial terms of the UK media buying firm’s purchase of rmsarcar were not disclosed, though it did say the four-year-old German company had gross assets of €5 million. Last week, Aegis bought Brazilian…

UK media buying firm Aegis Group has acquired Finland’s White Sheep, a provider of web development and digital creative production services. Financial terms were not disclosed. White Sheep will be folded into Aegis’ search marketing network Isobar and re-branded as Suddenly Helsinki. The five-year-old company will join Isobar’s other “Suddenly”…