By Kevin McCauley
Burson-Marsteller has acquired a majority stake in South Africa's Arcay Communications, which has been an affiliate of the WPP shop since 2009. The firm is recast as Arcay Burson-Marsteller.
Robyn de Villiers, founder of Johannesburg-based Arcay, established her own affiliate network that covers 50 of the continent's 55 markets.
Mark Penn, CEO of B-M, says the deal underscores the "great importance of the African continent to our clients."
De Villiers has counseled ExxonMobil, HP, Vodacom, Hewlett-Packard, Lilly, SABMiller, Shell and Dell, Kenya Airlines and Danone Southern Africa.
Under her leadership, the shop opened the Arcay communications training academy to offer skills development to aspiring PR pros across Africa.
Jeremy Galbraith is CEO of B-M's EMEA operation. |