- Leo Burnett has trumped Interpublic's plans to buy up the MacManus Group by masterminding its own merger. The Leo Group's merger with MacManus will create a new holding company, provisionally called BDM (Burnett Dentsu MacManus), which intends to go public in 2001.
Dentsu, which already owns a small stake in Leo Burnett, is expected to take a 20 per cent stake in BDM.
Leo Burnett and D'Arcy, the two biggest agency brands involved in the merger, already share global clients including Procter & Gamble and Coca-Cola.