Publicis Groupe secures equity investment in Troyka

Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy, has continued to attract foreign investment in spite of economic challenges as Pulicicis Groupe, the largest communications holding company in the world, has entered into equity partnership with Troyka.

In line with Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria, APCON guidelines, Publicis Groupe, the French multinational advertising and public relations company with headquarters in Paris, has secured 25 percent of the Troyka’s stocks.

Troyka is a holding company of Insight Communications, The Quadrant, Media Perspectives and other companies in Nigeria’s marketing communication industry.

The partnership signals the potentials seen by foreign investors in the Nigerian economy, especially the communication industry. It is believed that the partnership may open up more opportunities for other equity holding alliances.

Though the chairman of Troyka, Biodun Shobanjo, did not reveal the worth of Publicis investment in the group, but said yesterday in Lagos that the partnership “makes Troyka a part of the Publicis Groupe – a global leader in marketing, communication and business transformation with offices in 108 countries and more than 76,000 marketing communication professionals.

“This also makes us the first Nigerian marketing communications group to have foreign equity partnership. We are extremely excited about the added value that our clients will derive as a result of this partnership and look forward to deploying the full suite of Publicis Groupe tools and propriety processes for the benefit of our clients’ brands by way of even more creative, effective, integrated marketing communication and public solutions.”

Shobanjo further said the Publicis Groupe global communication brands that would reside with Troyka include, but were not limited to Publicis World Wide (Advertising), Zenith Optimedia, Starccom Mediavest Group (Media Independent), MSL (Public Relations), Nurun (Digital/Technology), Leo Burnett and Saatchi &Saatchi (Advertising).

The Troyka chairman who said that the group has set the pace in the industry believed that with the partnership, the market would see a different approach to handling jobs “because now we have access to much more training and systems and this will enable us to scale up our services.”

The partnership means that Troyka would be the custodian of all other affiliates of Publicis in Nigeria as Shobanjo said “we will now inherent all the assets and liabilities of its affiliates in this country”

With six companies in its marketing communication arm, and a staff count of about 304, Troyka is an established foremost player in the marketing communication in the Nigerian market.

The move further cements the MSL Group’s ambitions in Africa and strengthens its presence and capabilities in West Africa specifically.

Under the partnership, The Quadrant Company will align with MSL Group, Publicis Groupe’s strategic communication and engagement consultancy and will operate under the name Quadrant MSLgroup with Bolaji Okusaga remaining the managing director.

Shobanjo, who said that proper due diligence was conducted before the partnership was consummated, further said that Troyka had efficient management personnel to run the companies where the partnership was applicable.