Moody's could lift Publicis

Moody's Investors Service said it placed the Baa2 issuer rating for Publicis Groupe SA under review for upgrade, following the announcement that it signed a definitive agreement for an all-stock transaction with Omnicom Group Inc.

The transaction will be a cross-border merger of equals under a new holding company, Publicis Omnicom Group, in the Netherlands. Publicis Omnicom will assume $5.9 billion of existing debt at both entities (roughly $4.1 billion at Omnicom and about $1.8 billion at Publicis).

"The deal has clear industrial logic as its completion will create the world's largest communications, advertising, marketing, and digital services company with combined 2012 revenues of around €17.7 billion surpassing the current industry leader WPP (rated Baa2 stable) with £10.4 billion of reported revenues" Moody's assistant vice president Gunjan Dixit said in a news release.

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