Sandeep Goyal eyes Dentsu's non-Japanese ad business

Veteran ad man Sandeep Goyal is said to be in active talks with global bankers and potential alliance partners to buy out Dentsu's global business. The global advertising business of Dentsu, excluding Japan, has been put on the block by the Japanese advertising major recently.

"It looks like an opportunity that we can seriously consider. It has scale, it has depth and it is in trouble," Goyal told ET.

At its current level, the part of the Dentsu business on offer has 66,000 people across 143 countries.

"There are too many businesses and Dentsu has never been clear whether the business needed to be part of Japan's communication-without-lines advertising approach or be run like a typical Western agency headquartered out of a European capital," says an industry insider.

The Dentsu global business is organised into ten main divisions including Carat, Dentsu (operations outside Japan), Dentsu media, Mcgarrybowen, Merkle, Posterscope, Isobar, Soap Creative, iProspect and Vizeum, among others. Dentsu Aegis Network manages all the Dentsu-owned businesses outside the Japan market, which includes the former Aegis Group business that it acquired in 2013. It also includes 360i, Amplifi, Amnet, BJL, Grip Limited, The StoryLab, Data2Decisions, Mitchell Communications, Cardinal Path and psLIVE.

Goyal has worked with Dentsu since 1994 in various capacities, the most prominent being his eight-year stint as India JV partner and chairman Dentsu India from 2003-11. He was also Dentsu's Middle East partner till 2012.

"The global business of Dentsu is attractive as an acquisition but will need prudence and perseverance to re-build into a profitable operation. But it can be done," said Goyal. He currently owns and runs Rediffusion which was once a Dentsu partner agency in India for 25 years. Those familiar with the possible contours of the deal believe that none of the major holding companies, Publicis, WPP or Omnicom may be overtly enthusiastic about buying Dentsu's non-Japan operations as they are all beset with their own set of problems.

A bid could be expected from Accenture or others in the consulting business but it is unlikely even they would be enamoured of the brick-and-mortar agency business that is currently under the hammer.