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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.
Public Policy Holding Company registered 24.1 percent growth to a record $135M during the past year, which included the results of the March 1 acquisition of Multistate Assocs.
Stagwell CEO Mark Penn reported Q4 net revenues dipped 5.6 percent to $551.1M during a “challenging year for marketing services and digital transformation.”
Why M&A activity in the PR and marketing sector could pick up in 2024.
WPP reported Q4 revenues inched ahead 0.3 percent to $4.1B as CEO Mark Read wrapped up a year that he said was more challenging than expected due to cutbacks, mainly by technology clients.
Edelman reports 2023 revenues declined 3.7 percent to $1.04B as its flagship US region was off 9.1 percent to $639M.
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