Bozell finalises deal to buy Charles Barker PR

Bozell Sawyer Miller - part of the Bozell, Jacobs, Kenyon &

Eckhardt US advertising group - has acquired the PR operation, Charles

Barker, in a deal that values the company at up to pounds 11

million.

The move is part of a concerted effort to boost the Bozell

below-the-line offering across the world. It comes a week after it

emerged that Bozell Worldwide - the agency network that includes Delaney

Fletcher Bozell in the UK - is discussing taking a controlling interest

in the below-the-line agency, Marketing Drive, which handles clients

such as Total Oil, McVitie’s and Abbey National.

Charles Barker, formed in a management buyout four years ago after its

parent company, Corporate Communications, collapsed with debts of pounds

20 million, has an annual fee income of about pounds 7 million and 100

staff.

Bozell worked closely with the PR company in a successful joint pitch

for the Teacher Training Agency in May this year. Talks about the

purchase kicked off soon after Winston Fletcher, chairman of Bozell UK

Holdings, met one of Charles Barker’s directors at the last Conservative

Party Conference, where Fletcher was representing the Advertising

Association.

The deal will allow Charles Barker to expand into the US from its London

and Brussels offices. It will continue to be headed by the the chief

executive, Tim Sutton. He said: ’Advertising agencies have realised that

we bring senior access to chief executives and finance directors and we

are intimately involved in the strategy of our clients.’

Charles Barker currently handles corporate affairs for Saatchi &

Saatchi.

Fletcher commented: ’We don’t have a problem with Charles Barker working

for Saatchis, so long as it can work for us as well.’

This article was first published on Campaign