Nov 2, 2014/Bloomberg

Publicis Groupe SA (PUB), the world’s third-largest advertising company, agreed to acquire Sapient Corp. in a $3.7 billion transaction to accelerate its push into digital offers.

Sapient stockholders will receive $25 in cash for each share they own, the companies said in a joint statement today. The price is 44 percent more than Sapient’s close on Oct. 31. Both companies’ boards have approved the offer and Sapient CEO and Co-Chairman Alan J. Herrick will become CEO of Publicis.Sapient.

Publicis’s $35 billion merger with Omnicom Group Inc., which would have displaced Martin Sorrell’s WPP Plc (WPP) from its position as the world’s largest advertising agency, was abandoned in May after executives clashed over how to run the combined entity. Publicis, which owns agencies including Saatchi & Saatchi and Leo Burnett, cut its full-year sales forecast last month.

Buying Sapient (SAPE), which also owns SapientNitro, a leading digital advertising agency, would push Publicis further into online activities.