Publicis is considering acquiring a rival advertising company, fuelling speculation that Aegis could once again be in its sights.

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal Europe, Maurice Levy, the Publicis chairman and chief executive, said that the company was looking at several strategies, including an acquisition, buying back shares, or paying a dividend to shareholders.

Last year, it was reported that Publicis had made an unsuccessful bid of 140p a share, or £1.56bn, for the media network Aegis, which owns the Carat and Vizeum agencies.

However, a renewed bid would require the agreement of Aegis's largest shareholder, Vincent Bolloré, who controls 29% of Aegis stock.

There was friction between Mr Levy and Mr Bolloré recently when three senior Publicis executives defected to form a start-up ad agency backed by Mr Bolloré, who is chairman of rival French ad group Havas.

Aegis has a market value of around £1.5bn.

Mr Bolloré is keen to combine it with Havas's media planning group to give it greater buying power.

Earlier this month, Aegis confirmed it had received a request for a shareholder meeting from Mr Bolloré, who wants two seats on the company's board.

Aegis said Mr Bolloré had asked for a meeting to consider the election of Philippe Germond and Roger Hatchuel to its board. No date has yet been set for the meeting.

Mr Bolloré put forward Mr Germond and Mr Hatchuel as candidates at the company's annual meeting in June, but they were rejected by shareholders.

Sir Martin Sorrell's WPP has also been interested in parts of Aegis, principally the market research arm, Synovate.

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