BUENOS AIRES: Hoping to become more of a player in the Latin American PR scene, BSMG is about to launch a shopping spree in the region.
BUENOS AIRES: Hoping to become more of a player in the Latin
American PR scene, BSMG is about to launch a shopping spree in the
region.
Agency chairman Jack Leslie visited four local consultancies last week,
any of which could become an acquisition target for BSMG.
’We would like to have a deal closed before the end of 2000 or, at most,
in 18 months time,’ Leslie said following the visit. He added that he is
conducting similar probes in Mexico and Brazil, but would not disclose
names of the firms he is pursuing.
Though BSMG enjoyed the strongest growth among the top-10 US PR agencies
in 1998, the firm is the only one on the list that lacks a significant
presence in Latin America. ’We singled out 14 key markets worldwide
where we have to be in the near future, and we are already present in
six of them,’ Leslie said. ’Three of the remaining eight markets are
located in Latin America.’
BSMG’s goal is to double its foreign fee income in the near future.
’Only 20% of our global income now comes from outside the US,’ Leslie
said.
’We want to increase that figure to 40%.’ BSMG is also negotiating buys
in Spain and Italy, and an upcoming purchase in Germany will give the
firm that country’s second-largest PR presence.
Leslie knows the Latin American PR and political scene better than most
- he worked on the 1989 Argentine presidential election.
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