Weber Shandwick takes full control of Corporate Voice

The development comes at a time when holding company IPG has been consolidating its operations in the country

Sixteen years after first acquiring a 40% stake in public relations agency Corporate Voice, Weber Shandwick, the PR arm of Interpublic (IPG), the world's fourth largest marketing communications group, has acquired the balance 60% stake from local partner MAA.

Weber Shandwick signed the agreement with MAA, controlled by the Peerbhoy family, who are old hands in advertising, today. It did not disclose the size of the deal.

The move more importantly comes at a time when holding company IPG has been consolidating its presence in the country by taking full control of group agencies. In 2008, ad agencies Lowe Lintas and DraftFCB were fully acquired by IPG. McCann is already 100% owned by the group.

Andy Polansky, chief executive officer, Weber Shandwick, said that the acquisition of stake was a natural evolution for it. "Alongwith other emerging markets such as China and Brazil, India is also a market we are keen to grow our presence," he said.

Corporate Voice has offices in the metros of Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore and Kolkata. Amongst its competitors are the MSL Group from Publicis, independent agency Edelman, which in India has a joint venture with Arun Nanda's Rediffusion, local player Perfect Relations and WPP agency Genesis.

Unlike MSL which has in the last few years steadily acquired businesses such as 20:20 in the PR space in India, Polansky said there were no immediate plans for acquisitions in the country. "Our aim is to strengthen our existing operations in the four metros, building on our capabilities in the areas of healthcare, technology, corporate and financial PR and public affairs.

Globally, Weber Shandwick’s network spans 73 owned offices in 31 countries and affiliates and partners that expand the network to 126 offices in 81 countries. It is ranked among the top PR agencies in the world.