Greater China: IR specialist Lisio joins Ogilvy PR's China team

BEIJING: In a bid to bolster its investor relations capabilities, Ogilvy PR has tapped financial communications specialist Phil Lisio to head up its China IR practice. Lisio assumes the role of director at Ogilvy PR China, after moving from New York IR boutique, Joele Frank, Wilkinson Brimmer Katcher.

"(Lisio) is here to run a team of five and handle domestic, regional and global listings work," said Matthew Anderson, Ogilvy PR chief executive for EAME. "He will cover IR, IPOs, transactions and M&A."

Lisio, a fluent Mandarin speaker, said: "My educational background is in China, and I have long looked forward to applying my professional background to what's going on over here," he said. "The IR sector in China is very exciting - companies are just beginning to understand the importance of communicating with investors and the financial community at large."

At Joele Frank, Lisio specialised in transactional communications. However, noting that the M&A PR market is still flat, he believes that IPO work will remain the mainstay of Ogilvy China's IR practice in the near term.

"M&A does not seem to be that active, on a scale that would involve PR," said Lisio. "The IPO market is very strong at the moment - there are bumps in the road, but we remain positive."

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