One of the largest advertising contracts in the State is believed to have been awarded to the same company that sells advertising on behalf of Government departments, Brindley Advertising.

The contract involves handling advertising for Trinity College, NUI Maynooth, NUI Galway and University College Cork. The contract has been held for many years by Eason Advertising, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Eason Group. UCD, the largest university in Ireland, is not believed to be part of the contract and its advertising business is held by McConnells.

The contract is believed to be worth several million euro a year. It involves placing advertising in national and international media on behalf of the colleges. This mainly relates to college vacancies, but often includes advertisements for courses.

Nobody from Brindley Advertising was available to comment last night, but if the account win is confirmed it would represent a major boost for the company. Equally the loss of such substantial business would represent a blow to Eason Advertising, which depends heavily on third-level recruitment business.

The summer is a traditionally quiet period in the advertising business and the latest account move was greeted with surprise last night. "Brindley already has the main central Government contract and this would give them significant extra business," said one observer.

While individual universities are not large spenders compared to the major multinationals, their business is regarded as prestigious by the advertising industry and often involves placing advertising in major international journals and newspapers.

Brindley has been the subject of takeover interest for several years. In recent months there were reports in the industry that it was to be taken over by Aegis Media in a deal believed to be worth €12-€14 million. Due diligence was reported to be taking place but the deal does not appear to have been completed. All media merger must be notified to the Competition Authority.

The main Government contract held by the company is worth about €9 million and margins are believed to be relatively high compared to other advertising accounts.

While Brindley will receive a boost from third-level contract, it recently lost some business to rival agency QMP Publicis which won the €2.5 million Dublin City Council account after pitching against Javelin/Young and Rubicam, McCann-Erickson, Owens DDB and Rothco. The business includes statutory and non-statutory activities, as well as general information.

It is understood that about 20 agencies initially showed an interest in the the university account, but this was whittled down to a short list of five.