Publicis Groupe Acquires Local PR Agency UBS in mainland

MBExclusive- Publicis Groupe(阳狮集团) has continued its China’s buying spree, with new acquiration in Healthcare communications field.

The French communications gaint has acquired Shanghai-based PR agency called U-Link Business Solutions Ltd. (shorten as “UBS”) in mid-January.

UBS will folded into Publicis Healthcare Communicaitions Group, and is also an integral part of Saatchi & Saatchi Greater China.

UBS was founded in Shanghai in 1997, and expanded into Beijing in 2002. The agency now counts Johnson & Johnson, Roche, Wyeth, Sanofi-Aventis, AstraZeneca, PepsiCo,Manulife-Sinochem and others.

According to undisclosed source, the company’s billings exceeds to 100 million.

In a statement, Publicis Groupe claimed it “is planning to strengthen its presence in China, particularly in the health-care and public-relations sectors,” although “has frozen hiring and does not expect to do any big deals in 2012.”