French advertising holding group Publicis Groupe and US-based digital marketing company Sapient today announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement under which Publicis Groupe will acquire Sapient in an all-cash transaction for $25.00 per share, worth $3.7 billion. The agreement has been approved unanimously by the Management and Supervisory Boards of Publicis Groupe and the Board of Directors of Sapient.

Maurice Lévy, Chairman and CEO of Publicis Groupe, said: “It (the acquisition) will also give Publicis Groupe access to new markets and creating new revenue streams. This acquisition fulfills many of Publicis Groupe’s objectives: we will enhance our leadership position in digital, achieve our goal of deriving 50% of our revenues from digital and technology three years ahead of our 2018 plan, and leverage technology, consulting capabilities to expand in new verticals, and offering new and exciting opportunities to our talents.”

Alan J. Herrick, Sapient President, CEO and Co-Chairman, added: “This transaction provides substantial value to our shareholders, offers an ideal cultural match for our people and provides an opportunity to share a wealth of new capabilities with our clients.”

The purchase is Publicis' latest effort to bolster its digital offering and comes five months after Publicis called off its attempt to form a merger with Omnicom Group.

Publicis.Sapient will be Publicis Groupe’s newly created platform focused exclusively on digital transformation at the convergence of communication, marketing, commerce and technology.

Publicis.Sapient will be leveraging the capabilities of SapientNitro, Sapient Global Markets, Sapient Government Services, DigitasLBi, Razorfish Global and Rosetta. It will be led by Alan J. Herrick, who has been Sapient’s Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board of Directors since October 2006.

According to the official statement from the company, under the terms of the agreement, Publicis Groupe will acquire all of the outstanding shares of Sapient for $3.7 billion, or $25.00 per share, in cash. The transaction has been unanimously approved by the Management and Supervisory Boards of Publicis Groupe and the Board of Directors of Sapient. The acquisition is structured as a cash tender offer for all Sapient shares.

The completion of the tender offer is subject to certain customary terms and conditions, including the tender of at least a majority of the outstanding shares of Sapient, antitrust and other regulatory clearances in the US, and antitrust clearance in Germany. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2015.

The  merger  agreement  provides  that  following  the  successful  completion  of  the  tender  offer, Sapient will merge with a subsidiary of Publicis Groupe and become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Publicis Groupe, and all remaining outstanding shares of Sapient common stock will receive the same consideration paid to stockholders in the tender offer. Following the completion of the transaction, the common stock of Sapient will be delisted from Nasdaq.