Teneo Today Announced That It Has Completed the Acquisition of Blue Rubicon and StockWell

Teneo today announced that it has completed the acquisition of Blue Rubicon and StockWell, two of the UK’s leading strategic communications and reputation management firms.

The acquisitions of the two businesses, in addition to Teneo’s existing UK operations, will create one of the largest strategic communications practices in the European market. It will also augment Teneo’s operations in other parts of the world. All members of the Blue Rubicon and StockWell senior management team will continue as part of the Teneo leadership team. Terms of the transactions have not been disclosed.

Blue Rubicon, widely regarded as one of the most progressive strategic communications consultancies to have emerged in London in the last 20 years, provides senior counsel to some of the world’s largest companies as they navigate high-stake issues including succession planning, corporate restructuring, re-launches and post-M&A integration. Founded 15 years ago the firm has been led by Senior Partner, Fraser Hardie, CEO, Gordon Tempest-Hay, Partners Chris Jones and Fiona Joyce. Blue Rubicon today employs more than 225 people operating globally from offices in London, Doha, Dubai and Singapore.

StockWell was founded in 2010 and is led by its three Managing Partners: Tim Burt; Philip Gawith and Richard Holloway. The firm is headquartered in London and has 30 staff. StockWell specializes in providing boardroom level strategic communications advice to leading corporations and individuals across the UK, Europe and beyond.

It is intended that the London operations will be combined and co-located in London in the near future. They will report to Charles Watson in his capacity as Chairman of Teneo International.

“The acquisition of Blue Rubicon and StockWell is a transformational moment for Teneo as we continue to grow across the globe, building on our reputation as one of the world’s leading advisory firms”, said Declan Kelly, Chairman and CEO of Teneo.

“Teneo is fortunate to advise many of the world’s most senior business leaders on a daily basis. This requires us to be able to provide the highest-level strategic counsel at all times. Today’s acquisitions will help us to enhance Teneo’s offering even further in this regard”, he added.

“Both Blue Rubicon and StockWell are world-class businesses with great leadership, tremendous clients, and highly-respected teams and cultures. The synergies between our businesses will position Teneo to support our clients with the highest-level of strategic advisory services and provide many new opportunities across all 12 of our operating divisions”, he concluded.

Fraser Hardie, Blue Rubicon, Senior Partner said: “We are incredibly excited about becoming part of Teneo. We’re bringing together a compelling combination of skills to meet growing demand for reputation-related advice at a time when CEOs and boards look increasingly to manage reputation more strategically and across the whole enterprise. Many now see the systematic growth of trust as providing the oxygen in which to do business – a vital element which maintains strategic freedom, accelerates transitions and cements competitive advantage.”

Philip Gawith, joint-founder and Managing Partner of StockWell said: “We are delighted to be joining forces with Teneo and Blue Rubicon. Teneo has built a business of significance and scale advising chief executives and the opportunity to build on this success in the UK and beyond is very exciting. This is even more true in combination with Blue Rubicon, a firm whose leadership we have known and respected for many years. Together we have the opportunity to build an integrated and differentiated reputation advisory offer that will prove very compelling to clients.”

ABOUT TENEO
Teneo is a global advisory firm founded in 2011 by Declan Kelly, Doug Band and Paul Keary with a vision to create a new breed of advisory firm focused on working exclusively with the leaders of major corporations to help them address a wide range of business and reputational issues and opportunities. Teneo’s clients include some of the world’s largest corporations. The firm has over 275 employees working across 4 integrated operating businesses spanning the disciplines of strategic communications, investor relations, investment banking, financial analytics, executive recruiting, digital analytics, corporate governance, government affairs, business intelligence, management consulting and corporate restructuring. The business operates out of 12 offices around the world. In January 2015 Private Equity firm BC Partners acquired a minority stake in Teneo. For more information on Teneo, please see www.teneo.com

ABOUT BLUE RUBICON
Blue Rubicon was founded in 1999 and is led by Senior Partner, Fraser Hardie, CEO Gordon Tempest-Hay, Partners, Chris Jones and Fiona Joyce and Managing Director Chris Norton. During its existence, Blue Rubicon has been the most successful firm of its kind in the London market, winning multiple industry awards. Today Blue Rubicon has over 225 people operating globally from offices in London, Doha, Dubai and Singapore. Using insights from its international reputation research programme, the firm works with boards and executive teams to deliver reputation management strategies, corporate and brand narrative, risk, issues and crisis management, media and social relations, political and regulatory affairs as well as coaching CEOs and their teams. The firm also comprises political and regulatory specialists, Open Road, and brand communications consultancy Surname & Surname. The company had a successful investment partnership with LDC. After taking a stake in Blue Rubicon in 2012, LDC will now exit the business and will have no future role.

ABOUT STOCKWELL
Founded in 2010, and backed by Iceni Capital, the firm is led by experienced communications advisers who have worked with some of the world’s largest corporations. It has almost 30 employees with proven strength and depth in reputation management; boardroom strategic communications counsel; financial and transaction communications; media relations (analogue, digital and social); corporate communications; crisis management; and litigation support. StockWell advises major international companies and has deep specific knowledge across a range of important territories including the UK, Western Europe, the CEE region, Japan and North America. For more information on StockWell, please see www.stockwellgroup.com