Commission approves unconditionally the acquisition of IPG by Omnicom

This article is brought to you in association with the European Commission.

The European Commission has approved unconditionally, under the EU Merger Regulation, the proposed acquisition of Interpublic Group of Companies, Inc. (‘IPG‘) by Omnicom Group Inc. (‘Omnicom‘). The Commission concluded that the merger would raise no competition concerns in the European Economic Area (‘EEA’).

The companies are both active in advertising, marketing and communication services, including so-called marketing communication services (“MCS”) and media buying services (“MBS”) in many European countries and worldwide. MCS relate to the creative side of advertising, involving the development of advertising campaigns, while MBS relate to the purchasing of advertising space in the media on behalf of a client.

The Commission’s investigation

The Commission investigated the impact of the transaction in the national markets for the provision of MCS and MBS in various EEA countries.

Based on its investigation, the Commission found that:

• The merged entity would hold moderate market positions on such markets. Moreover, the merged entity would be sufficiently constrained by the presence of several competitors, including large international advertising groups with a global reach, such as WPP, Dentsu-Aegis, Publicis and Havas.
• Should the merged entity increase its prices or decrease the quality of its services, customers would have the ability to switch to one of the several competing agencies that would remain active in the market after the transaction. Changing agencies would be facilitated by: (i) the bidding nature of the relevant markets; (ii) the relatively short duration of contracts; and (iii) the relatively limited costs of switching to a competing agency.
• Should the merged entity try to use its position on the market for the provision of MBS to increase its negotiating power with media owners, the latter would maintain sufficient countervailing power due to the significant degree of concentration of media owners in the relevant European countries.

The Commission therefore concluded that the proposed transaction would, on balance, be unlikely to raise competition concerns on any of the markets examined in the EEA and cleared the transaction unconditionally.

Companies and products

Omnicom, headquartered in the US, is a provider of marketing solutions including brand advertising, customer relationship management, media planning and buying services, public relations, as well as numerous specialty communications services.

IPG, headquartered in the US, provides media buying and planning services, data and engagement solutions, integrated advertising and creativity solutions, public relations, as well as specialized communications and experiential solutions.

Merger control rules and procedure

The transaction was notified to the Commission on 20 October 2025.

The Commission has the duty to assess mergers and acquisitions involving companies with a turnover above certain thresholds (see Article 1 of the EU Merger Regulation) and to prevent concentrations that would significantly impede effective competition in the European Economic Area or any substantial part of it.

The vast majority of notified mergers do not pose competition problems and are cleared after a routine review. From the moment a transaction is notified, the Commission generally has 25 working days to decide whether to grant approval (Phase I) or to start an in-depth investigation (Phase II).

For More Information

More information will be available on the Commission’s competition website, in the public case register under the case number M.11902.

Trending now: