Burson-Marsteller

Burson-Marsteller agrees to acquire a majority stake in Pohjoisranta, one of Finland’s leading PR agencies

by Jennifer Carlot on 20th January 2012 • Press releases

Helsinki, 20 January 2012 – Burson-Marsteller, a leading global public relations and communications firm, announced today that it has agreed to acquire a majority stake in the Finnish communications consultancy Pohjoisranta. Headquartered in Helsinki, Pohjoisranta has been Burson-Marsteller’s exclusive affiliate partner in Finland since 2006 and will now become a full member of the network as Pohjoisranta Burson-Marsteller.

 “Our decision to take a majority stake in one of Finland’s leading agencies underlines our commitment to growing and expanding our services in EMEA and the Nordics. It offers us significant opportunities to strengthen our business both in EMEA and globally. This strategic move demonstrates our commitment to serving our clients in every part of the world,” said Mark Penn, global CEO of Burson-Marsteller.

”Our cooperation with Burson-Marsteller has been intense and fruitful since we joined as an exclusive affiliate in 2006. This acquisition is the natural step in strengthening this partnership which is based on common values and a shared evidence-based approach to communications. Our clients have become more international than ever and sharing global knowledge on best practices is extremely important for us. Being able to work even more closely with the most reputable global network will benefit all of our clients. We are very proud to become a full member of the Burson-Marsteller family”, said Jouni Heinonen, Chairman and Co-founder of Pohjoisranta.

Jeremy Galbraith, CEO Burson-Marsteller Europe Middle East & Africa (EMEA), said: “After our recent acquisition of Arcay Burson-Marsteller in Africa, I am very happy to announce that we are now strengthening our EMEA network to the North. Pohjoisranta has seen large growth in the last 5 years, and has been expanding major Finnish brands very rapidly, thanks to Jouni, Esa Laurila, Tommi Siikaniva and their dynamic team. I am confident that together we can continue to grow our Nordic offering and I am very pleased that Jouni will join our EMEA leadership team in addition to his role as Head of our EMEA Change Practice.”

About Burson-Marsteller

Burson-Marsteller, established in 1953, is a leading global public relations and communications firm. It provides clients with strategic thinking and program execution across a full range of public relations, public affairs, reputation and crisis management, advertising and web-related strategies. The firm’s seamless worldwide network consists of 69 offices and 80 affiliate offices, together operating in 107 countries across six continents.  Burson-Marsteller is a part of Young & Rubicam Brands, a subsidiary of WPP (NASDAQ: WPPGY), the world’s largest marketing communications services group.

About Pohjoisranta Burson-Marsteller

Pohjoisranta, founded in 1995 by Jouni Heinonen, Esa Laurila and Tommi Siikaniva, is a consultancy that specialises in reputation management and communication services. Pohjoisranta offers reputation and communication consultancy, research and analysis, operative communication and outsourcing services. The company’s revenue is over 5 million euro and has over 40 communication professionals. Clients include Stora Enso, Metso, HP and SAP.

Contact

Pohjoisranta Burson-Marsteller Jouni Heinonen Tel. +358 10 424 5915 Email: jouni.heinonen@pohjoisranta.fi

Burson-Marsteller Valerie von Eberhardt Tel. +32 2 7436643 Email: valerie.voneberhardt@bm.com

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