FTI Consulting has dropped the FD name for its strategic communications division, five years after its acquisition in a $260M deal.
West Palm Beach, Fla.-based FTI said in January that it was adopting a “One Brand” strategy across its five business units and FD is the latest to take on the FTI name. The push has coincided with a major marketing effort to put FTI’s name among the so-called Big Four of business consultancies.
Ed Reilly, CEO of the strategic communications division, said the change is particularly timely given volatility in global markets. “Operating under the FTI Consulting brand ensures that we can advise our clients through whatever critical event they may face,” he said.
FD revenues were up 7.5% in the second quarter to $53.6M as the firm counseled 122 deals in the first half of the year.
The firm took its name from predecessor Financial Dynamics, which itself was a relatively small London-based agency when it absorbed Morgen-Walke Associates in 2002 under Cordiant Communications.
Upper management led by Charles Watson bought FD out from Cordiant in 2003.
FTI, which paid $260M for FD in 2006, counts corporate finance/restructuring, forensic/litigation consulting, technology, and economic consulting as its other main units alongside strategic communications.
FTI took a $25M charge in December to retire and write off acquired trade names.