FGH

Finsbury Glover Hering, which is majority-owned by WPP, is merging with Sard Verbinnen & Co. to create a firm they say chalked up $330M in combined 2020 revenues and will have more than 1,000 staffers in 25 offices throughout the world.

The transaction values the combined group at $917M and SVC at $303M. FGH, which had gross assets of $426.8M at year-end 2020, registered pre-tax profit of $53.5M.

SVC earned $36.4M on $52.2M in gross assets.

Headquartered in New York, FGH CEO Alexander Geiser and COO Sydney Neuhaus will continue as leaders of the combined entity.

SVC co-founder George Sard will join FGH’s Roland Rudd and Carter Eskew as co-chairmen.

The merger combines two firms with a “heritage of delivering for our clients at their most high-pressure moments,” Sard and SVB co-founder Paul Verbinnen said in a statement.

It creates a strategic communications powerhouse in government affairs, corporate reputation and crisis management as well as a leader in financial communications with strengths in M&A activity, private equity, IPOs, SPACs, shareholder activism and restructurings.

WPP will own 57.4 percent of FGH-SVC. FGH/SVC managers will control about 40 percent. The transaction is expected to be completed by the end of the year and the company will have a new name in 2022.