1540 GMT - Publicis Groupe's acquisition of Mars United Commerce looks small relative to the size of the French advertising group, but attractive, Bank of America analysts Adrien de Saint Hilaire and David Amira say in a research note. The value of $600 million reported by The Wall Street Journal for the Mars deal makes it Publicis' biggest acquisition so far this year, BofA says. "While Mars itself is hardly transformative, we like the group's track-record in integrating and scaling up assets while gaining further exposure to the attractive theme of retail media," the analysts say. Mars, a commerce-marketing agency that helps brands optimize how they present their products to consumers online and in stores, is akin to Omnicom Group's Flywheel with an offline component, BofA says. Publicis shares fall 0.7%. (adria.calatayud@wsj.com)

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 20, 2024 11:40 ET (15:40 GMT)

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