Bell Pottinger Private

prweek.com, Wednesday, 05 December 2012, 5:00pm,

It has been an interesting year for Bell Pottinger. Lord Bell and other senior executives, agreed to buy a portion of Chime Communications' PR businesses for £19.6m.

Buyout Deal: Lord Bell

Global head James Henderson

Ownership Independent

Fastest growing offices Not supplied

Key clients Etihad Airways, SABMiller, Kraft

The new company comprises Bell Pottinger Public Relations, Pelham Bell Pottinger, Bell Pottinger Public Affairs, Bell Pottinger Sans Frontieres and Bell Pottinger Middle East.

The owners of the new business, which continues to operate as Bell Pottinger, include Lord Bell, James Henderson, David Beck, Jeremy Deedes, John Leece, Tom Mollo and David Wilson.

The Daily Mirror's longstanding business editor Clinton Manning also joined Pelham Bell Pottinger this year, having worked for 18 years on the paper.

Major new business wins include Etihad Airways, New Covent Garden Market and SABMiller, for public affairs help to battle the Government's minimum pricing plans.

In PRWeek's Top 150 PR Consultancies, which reported 2011 figures, Bell Pottinger, when still owned by Chime, suffered a seven per cent drop in fee income as a result of losing US government work.