UK regulators clears Omnicon's $13.25 mn deal to aquire IPG

Britain’s competition regulator has approved Omnicom’s planned acquisition of Interpublic Group on Wednesday. According to Reuters, the watchdog said it would not prefer the merger between the two for an in-depth phase 2 probe, which could have possibly delayed the merger and has potentially cleared the way for the creation of the world's largest advertising and marketing agency.

The decision from Britain’s Competition and Markets Authority removes a key regulatory hurdle for the $13.25 billion all-stock merger between the two agencies. The merger first announced in December last year and the deal is expected to close by the second half of 2025.

The British watchdog reportedly launched its initial probe into the merger in June to assess if the deal could lead to a reduction in competition in the UK market.

The merger had already received conditional clearance in the United States. According to the reports, the deal was cleared by the Federal Trade Commission in late June on the condition that the new company does not enter into agreements with others to steer ad dollars towards or away from publishers based on political content.