Omnicon-Publicis merger gets EU go-ahead

The European Commission has approved the $35.1 billion merger between Omnicom Group and Publicis Groupe.
The regulator concluded that the deal between the two advertising giants would not raise any competition concerns due to the “the bidding nature of the markets, the presence of other large competitors, the relatively low barriers to entry, and the significant countervailing power of media vendors”.
The US Federal Trade Commission approved the merger in November 2013 and Canada, India, Turkey, South Africa are among others to also approve it.
The merged entity is waiting for approval from Chinese regulators among others and a decision is expected in the coming weeks. The decision from the European regulator takes the two companies a step closer to forming the world’s largest communication group.