roupe Bollore, the principal company of corporate raider Vincent Bollore, said it has used about 55 million Havas shares to borrow more than $270 million from an unnamed French financial firm, fuelling speculation that Bollore will raise his 22 per cent stake in the holding company.

Bollore increased his stake in Havas to 22 per cent in October 2004 but said he had no immediate plan to attempt to gain control of the company. Bollore at the time reserved the right to buy or sell Havas shares in accordance with market opportunities and the "evolution" of "relationships" with Havas management. (When Havas this summer made a bid for Grey Global Group, Bollore publicly stated his opposition to the company�s decision. UK-based WPP Group eventually made the winning bid for Grey.)... more