Publicis Groupe acquires majority stake in Mumbai’s Beehive Communications

Publicis Groupe yesterday acquired a majority stake in Mumbai-based ad-agency Beehive Communications, for an undisclosed amount, making it the French advertising and communications giant's seventh acquisition in India in a year.

Founded in 2003, Beehive provides creative integrated solutions, reputation management, media, digital, brand activation and research services.

Its clients include over 50 brands and companies, including Malaysia Tourism, General Motors, Korea Tourism, Jubiliant Retail, India Bulls Finance and Bisleri, among others.

Post acquisition, Beehive will be rebranded as Publicis Beehive and will operate as a unit within Publicis Worldwide's global network.

Beehive founder and CEO Sanjit Shastri, and the current leadership team will continue to lead the agency and will now report to Nakul Chopra, CEO of South Asia for Publicis Worldwide.

''Beehive brings both scale and strategic value to Publicis' offering in India. Coming on the heels of our earlier moves, this is another significant step towards realising our goal of being counted among the top agency networks in India,'' said Chopra.

Publicis said that it has been working to increase its profile in the country, including recent acquisitions of, Indigo Consulting in April 2012, Resultrix in August 2012, MarketGate in December 2012, iStrat in December 2012, Convonix in March 2013 and Neev in April 2013.

''We are making significant strides toward achieving our goals in India,'' said Jean-Yves Naouri, COO of Publicis Groupe. ''By adding Beehive to the Publicis network we will be able to capitalise on a great pool of talent and market potential, as well as strengthen the unparalleled services we provide to our clients.''