Pixelpark: Publicis Secures More Than 76% of the Shares in Pixelpark AG

PARIS, March 20, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

Not for release in or into the United States of America. The offer is not being made, directly or indirectly, in or into, or by use of mails of, or by any means or instrumentality (including, without limitation, facsimile transmission, telex, telephone, e-mail and other forms of electronic transmission) of interstate or foreign commerce of, or any facility or a national securities exchange of, the United States of America and the offer cannot be accepted by such use, means or instrumentality from or within the United States of America. No persons in the United States of America will be permitted to accept the offer. Neither this announcement nor the offer document may be distributed or sent in, into or from the United States of America, and doing so may render invalid any purported acceptance.

Publicis Groupe S.A. (EURONEXT PARIS: FR0000130577) announces that as of today it has secured more than 76% of the shares in Pixelpark AG through its subsidiary MMS Germany Holdings GmbH ("MMS").

MMS already holds 60.2% of the registered share capital and of the voting rights in Pixelpark AG. In addition, 14.0% of Pixelpark AG shareholders have agreed to tender their Pixelpark AG shares into the public offer. Furthermore, 2.3% of the Pixelpark AG shareholders have irrevocably committed to sell their shares to MMS.

Shareholders of Pixelpark AG should note that the acceptance period for the public offer will expire on March 21, 2012 at 24:00 hrs CET, and that shareholders of outstanding shares can only accept the public offer until that point in time. Shareholders who have not yet accepted are therefore asked to accept prior to the expiration of the acceptance period.

Important information:

This announcement contains forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements that do not describe past facts, but also such statements regarding assumptions and expectations as well as the underlying assumptions. These statements are based on the planning, estimates and forecasts currently available to the management of Publicis Groupe S.A. Forward-looking statements are thus only related to the date on which they are made. No obligation will be assumed to revise such statements in light of new information or future events. Forward-looking statements harbor risks and uncertainties by nature. A number of important factors may lead to the fact that actual results differ substantially from such forward-looking statements.

This announcement is neither an offer to purchase nor a solicitation to offer to sell shares in Pixelpark AG. The terms of the offer and its acceptance will be based exclusively on the offer document to be published on the Internet under http://www.publicis-pixelpark.com. As the offer as well as all other related documents will contain important information, holders of shares in Pixelpark AG are strongly advised to read these documents as soon as they will have been published.

As the shares in Pixelpark AG are exclusively listed on the Entry Standard of the Open Market (Freiverkehr) of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (Frankfurter Wertpapierbörse), the provisions of the German Securities Acquisition and Takeover Act (Wertpapiererwerbs- und Übernahmegesetz: WpÜG) and the regulations issued in connection therewith do not apply to the offer, the offer document and all associated declarations, notices and legal acts.

About Publicis Groupe

Publicis Groupe [Euronext Paris FR0000130577, part of the CAC 40 index] is the third largest communications group in the world, offering the full range of services and skills: digital and traditional advertising, public affairs and events, media buying and specialized communication. Its major networks are Leo Burnett, MSLGROUP, PHCG (Publicis Healthcare Communications Group), Publicis Worldwide, Rosetta and Saatchi & Saatchi. VivaKi, the Groupe's media and digital accelerator, includes Digitas, Razorfish, Starcom MediaVest Group and ZenithOptimedia. Present in 104 countries, the Groupe employs 50,000 professionals.

Web: http://www.publicisgroupe.com  | Twitter:@PublicisGroupe  | Facebook:http://www.facebook.com/publicisgroupe

About Pixelpark

Pixelpark is Germany's largest independent interactive service provider. With the brands Yellow Tomato, Elephant Seven and Pixelpark we have developed creative and value-enhancing communication and eBusiness solutions for about 20 years. About 370 employees in Berlin, Hamburg, Cologne, Bielefeld, Barcelona and Zurich are proud to be working for clients such as Adidas, Allianz, the Bundesministerium der Finanzen (BMF), the Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Technologie (BMWi), Boehringer Ingelheim, Coca-Cola, Daimler AG, Deutsche Post DHL, Drägerwerk AG & Co. KGaA, Energie Baden-Württemberg AG (EnBW), Deutsche Lufthansa AG, Mercedes-Benz, Montblanc, Reifen Center GmbH, RTL, Sparkasse, WGZ BANK, Zweites Deutsche Fernsehen (ZDF) and many more. http://www.pixelpark.com

Contacts

Publicis Groupe
Martine Hue, Investor Relations: + 33(0)1-44-43-65-00
Peggy Nahmany, Corporate Communication: + 33 (0)1-44-43-72-83