Simmons & Simmons resign from Ojjeh legal team

The firm of City lawyers helping to advise Nahed Ojjeh, the Syrian multi-millionairess who is stalking Cordiant, has resigned, raising fresh questions about what game the chess enthusiast is playing in the battle for control of the stricken advertising group.

Confusion over Mrs Ojjeh's intervention in a bid battle that WPP appeared to have sewn up two weeks ago intensified yesterday as she revealed that her stake was less than she had previously led the market to believe.

A spokesman for Simmons & Simmons, the UK law firm that had been advising Mrs Ojjeh's French lawyers, Veil Jourde La Garanderie, confirmed that it was no longer acting for the French law firm, which also has links to France's Publicis. "We are no longer advisers on the matter," he said, adding that Simmons & Simmons' relationship had lasted just one week.

Separately, the French media group, which lost out to WPP in a battle to win control of Cordiant, admitted that it had held talks with Active Value, the activist fund management group that owns 29 per cent of Cordiant shares, as it sought to distance itself from the current twists.

"Publicis has no intention to participate either directly or indirectly in any possible attempt to gain the control of Cordiant," the French group said. It said it had rejected proposals put to it by Active Value regarding Cordiant, but declined to shed light on their details.

The comments from Publicis, in which Mrs Ojjeh has a 1 per cent stake, appeared to dent City speculation that Mrs Ojjeh's role could be a complicated way of enabling Publicis to acquire a 25 per cent in Zenith, a media buying business it co-owns with Cordiant, on the cheap.

"Neither Publicis nor its advisers have had any contact or held any discussion of any kind regarding Cordiant with Mrs Ojjeh, or with her advisers ... Publicis has no knowledge of Mrs Ojjeh's intention in respect of Cordiant," the French group said.

Further details of Mrs Ojjeh's stake in Cordiant, which she has built up with the help of her children, Akram and Lara, and with an offshore company that she controls, were also disclosed.

The detailed statement - which for the first time appeared to meet City takeover disclosure rules - revealed that from 27 June to 9 July she had amassed a shareholding of 9.89 per cent. This was less than the 10.75 per cent stake she had confessed to owning in Cordiant earlier this week.