Rebels storm Havas board

ALAIN de Pouzilhac, chairman of Havas, the world's sixth-largest advertising agency, woke up with a black eye and a headache today. Next time the Havas board meets, de Pouzilhac will be squinting down the table at Vincent Bolloré, the buccaneering Breton investor.

He was elected by shareholders yesterday despite de Pouzilhac's opposition. Flanking Bolloré will be three of his lieutenants.

While Bolloré and some shareholder organisations were last night toasting a victory for shareholder democracy, others reckon he has boarded the €2bn (£1.3bn) group and got his hand close to the steering wheel after buying 20.3% for less than €400m.

But what sway will Bolloré have on an 18-strong board, where de Pouzilhac also got two new 'independent' directors elected despite losing Thierry Meyer, the remuneration committee chairman who oversaw de Pouzilhac's €2.7m salary?

Clearly, the shareholders who voted Bolloré and his friends from quoted conglomerate Bollor Investissement on to the board are unhappy with de Pouzilhac's performance. Despite presiding over the group for a decade, he last year unveiled a 2003 net loss of €396m.

Trading has now improved and the agency has returned to profit but de Pouzilhac was beaten in the auction of US rival Grey Global, the last independent agency, by Britain's WPP last year and lacks the economies of scale enjoyed by bigger rivals. Havas has this year lost two key clients, Intel and Volkswagen, although it has picked up smaller accounts for Jaguar, Diesel jeans and US retailer RadioShack.

Bollor, 53, has clearly indicated he would favour a change of chairman. He says Havas should adopt a dual-tier board, with a supervisory board chaired by former Havas chairman Pierre Dauzier. De Pouzilhac could run the executive board, unless he should choose to resign, Bolloré has said, quietly advancing the names of possible outside candidates from rival French agencies.

Bolloré says he is there for the long term. He is known in France Bolloré as the "little prince of cashflowî but squeezing more money out of the creative types at Havas may not be easy. However, WPP boss Sir Martin Sorrell, whom Bolloré talks to often, may offer a tip or two, even if, as its advisers insist, WPP has no interest in owning Havas.