Aegis can pursue WPP unit over 'poaching'

A £300m client-poaching legal battle between advertising group Aegis and WPP affiliate KR Media is continuing in the French courts, after an appeal judge reversed an earlier decision to throw out the action.

KR Media's Paris offices were raided by court-appointed investigators last year when Aegis claimed the new operation, in which WPP has a 20% stake, had poached many of its clients.

The Aegis case appeared to have failed last month when KR's legal team successfully challenged its basis, potentially leaving it with a legal bill estimated at £100,000.

But Aegis appealed against the ruling, and the French Appeal Court in Versailles has now concluded that KR Media's original legal defence had 'serious flaws'. That gives Aegis the green light to continue with its case.

Aegis claims that KR's founders - former Aegis executives Eryck Rebbouh and Bruno Kemoun - breached the terms of a non-compete clause in setting up the new business.

Rebbouh and Kemoun, dubbed The Twins after a long and successful business partnership, had helped establish and build Aegis's hugely successful Carat business before leaving the company last November.

They are said to have agreed to a non-solicit agreement running until 31 December last year. The Aegis action and raid on KR offices followed a series of account wins of former Aegis clients by KR Media last year.