"Buying iPR will allow us to drill down deeply as Hong Kong becomes a major financial market, while iPR can scale up as local companies look to grow beyond Hong Kong," said Christopher Graves, Ogilvy PR Asia-Pacific president. "The combination of iPR and Ogilvy Financial allows (companies) to get the best counsel on local and global listings communications."
Rigorous Sarbanes Oxley rules have encouraged Chinese firms to list in Hong Kong instead, and with cross-border M&A deals involving China firms hitting US$27 billion to date, the city's financial PR market, which now generates fees in excess of HK$360 million (US$46m), is expected to grow further. Six-year-old iPR, which will trade as iPR Ogilvy after the acquisition, handled 20 per cent of IPOs this year, competing against another local player, Strategic.
"Companies are now looking for a full-fledged service such as branding, identity development, crisis and issues management," said Ellen Kong, iPR's founder who will remain as MD. "By combining the two agencies, we can go after the bigger IPOs."
