PR agency Tigerbond has completed the management buyout of Beattie Communications, following its former founder’s “tone deaf” social media post.
The company retained the existing team, client book and office network across the UK, Ireland and North America following its recent rebrand.
This came in response to criticism of a post on LinkedIn by the now former chairman and founder Gordon Beattie.
The post was described as “racist” and “homophobic” in the resulting row about its publication, although Beattie claims was trying to highlight that his company did not discriminate, with the first paragraph being “deliberately controversial”.
The buyout saw chief executive Laurna Woods and her leadership team take over the agency, which has offices in Uddingston, Falkirk, London, Manchester, Leeds and Belfast.
Woods refused to disclose the price she and her team - of Elspeth Brown, Joanne Spence, Rachel Gladwin and Chris Gilmour - paid for the agency, which has some major clients on its books.
Beattie has since transferred his control in the company to majority shareholder Woods.
She confirmed that the entire client book, personnel, offices in the UK, Ireland and Canada, and the suite of Only boutiques are included in the acquisition.
Woods said: “Today marks the beginning of an exciting new chapter for our talented team and fantastic clients.
“We have big plans for the agency both in the UK and overseas as we strengthen our offer and further extend our footprint and headcount in the months and years ahead.”
Headquartered in London, Tigerbond has offices across the UK, Ireland and in Canada, offering a mix of marketing and communications services from PR and social through to digital marketing, creative and web.
The management buyout team was advised by WJM. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.
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