The Indian shareholders of Lintas India have agreed to sell their 51% stake in the advertising agency to the Interpublic Group (IPG) which holds the balance 49%. Prem Mehta, chairman and managing director, Lintas India said that both parties had reached a mutual agreement on the matter, and that the deal is now awaiting FIPB approval. The 51% stake in Lintas is held by 12 Employee Welfare Trusts, which also have four members on the board of the agency. IPG, the international partner too has four members on the board. Mehta said that once the deal goes through, there would be a change in the board representation. "However, there will be no change in the management or agency structure," he said. The decision to go ahead with the integration was based on significant changes in the servicing needs of global clients, which require fully integrated global management and creative teams as well as Indian companies requiring specialised services outside the country. Pranesh Misra, president & COO, Lintas India said that the biggest change would be seen in the below-the-line space where IPG had a number of specialised units. "This will enable us to work even more closely with them and the knowledge transfer would be faster," he said. With Lowe India as its flagship agency, Lintas India has two more independent advertising agencies and a media buying unit, Lintas Media Group. It also has other units like Lintas Personal, Linterland, LinOpinion, Advent, Lintertainment, Lintas Healthcare, dCell and Aaren Initiative. Some of its key clients inlude Hindustan Lever, ITC, IDEA and Maruti.
