NEW YORK, Feb. 5, 2001 (PRIMEZONE) -- In a move that signals the further integration of investor relations and financial media relations, public relations firm Manning, Selvage & Lee (MS&L) today announced it has acquired Pondel/Wilkinson Group, a Los Angeles-based corporate and investor relations firm. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
"The lines between these disciplines are blurring," said Joe Gleason, managing director of MS&L's global corporate practice. "New technology, heightened disclosure requirements and consumer demand for greater transparency are driving a newly integrated approach to financial communications. This acquisition significantly broadens our capability and allows us to take a major strategic position in this space."
Under present management since 1981, the newly acquired company will operate as a wholly-owned subsidiary under the name PondelWilkinson MS&L and serve as MS&L's investor relations brand.
Roger S. Pondel will become managing director of the investor relations practice, and his long-time partner, Cecilia A. Wilkinson, will become deputy managing director. Both Pondel and Wilkinson become members of MS&L's operating committee, effective immediately.
The PondelWilkinson senior management team will continue to include principals Gary S. Maier and Robert M. Whetstone, each of whom will assume the additional title of senior vice president.
"PondelWilkinson is an important addition to our growing global corporate practice," said Louis Capozzi, MS&L's chairman and chief executive officer. "We are delighted this firm is now part of MS&L, offering our clients the highest caliber strategic financial communications and investor relations counsel."
"There are great synergies between our two organizations, from the collaborative and cultural nature of our respective staffs, to the primary industries that both firms serve," said Pondel. "Together we will build our respective businesses drawing from the best of what we both provide, to further enhance an already established world class corporate practice. We were in the envious position of being courted by several wonderful firms, and when our partners made the unanimous decision to join an international organization, MS&L was the clear choice."
Pondel also said that the alignment with MS&L would help the firm meet expansion objectives, offer the staff broader career opportunities and better meet the growing needs of PondelWilkinson's clients in domestic and international markets.
In addition to its Los Angeles office, PondelWilkinson is expanding its east coast presence with MS&L's newly-appointed senior vice president Richard Simonelli to head its New York office. Simonelli, a former managing director of the New York Stock Exchange, most recently was managing director in the New York office of investor relations firm Citigate Dewe Rogerson. Additionally, James Storey, an MS&L senior vice president, will continue to lead the investor relations staff in MS&L's Atlanta office under the PondelWilkinson MS&L banner. PondelWilkinson MS&L also plans to open a San Francisco office.
Both firms focus primarily on the consumer, healthcare, technology, corporate and financial services sectors. PondelWilkinson, which has satellite offices in Boston and Portland, Ore., will operate under MS&L's global corporate practice, headed by Gleason.
The acquisition of PondelWilkinson is the latest in a series of strategic moves to expand MS&L's global corporate practice. Recently, the company added award-winning journalist and former White House communications strategist Lawrence Haas as senior vice president and director of public affairs. Simonelli joined MS&L in late January. Other recent acquisitions include workplace communications firm, Deeley Trimble, and Toronto-based corporate and financial firm, Advance Planning.
In addition to investor relations, MS&L's global corporate practice capabilities encompass public affairs, crisis, corporate and financial communications, media relations, brand management and internal communications. Clients in the practice include J.P. Morgan, General Motors, Capital One, Coca-Cola Enterprises and IBM.
With more than 900 employees, 1999 fee income of $95 million and a network of 100 offices and affiliates, Manning, Selvage & Lee is one of the world's leading global public relations firms. MS&L is a member of the Bcom3 Group of Companies, among the world's largest providers of communications services, with operations in public relations, advertising, media planning and buying, digital marketing solutions, ethnic communications and direct marketing.