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Freshwater acquires Irish PR agency Life Communications

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By The Drum Team, Editorial

July 2, 2009 | 3 min read

Regional PR group Freshwater UK has acquired Belfast and Dublin based PR agency Life Communications.

The agency has added to its range of offices which includes London, Birmingham, Glasgow, Hampshire, Cardiff, Sheffield, Bristol and Leeds with the acquisition of Life Communications which was established in 1998 by managing director Darlene McCormick.

The agency will continue to trade as Life Communications throughout the two year earn out period headed by McCormick.

Life Communications has a turnover of £1.1million and has six staff which work with clients such as Specsavers, Walkers, Gala and Expo Events.

The initial consideration for the acquisition will be £400,000 to be satisfied, at completion, by a cash payment of £300,000 and the issue of 263,505 ordinary shares in Freshwater. In addition, an anticipated £30,000 will be paid for certain acquired fixed assets. A deferred consideration of up to £700,000 will also become payable, dependent on Life’s trading performance in the two years following completion.

Steve Howell, CEO of Freshwater UK, said: “In spite of the economic climate, we are pleased to be in a position to take another step forward in our strategy of expanding the regional scope and specialist expertise of the Freshwater Group.

“This acquisition not only adds a new regional dimension to Freshwater but it also provides a platform for the extension of Freshwater’s offering into Ireland in specialisms such as stakeholder communications and public affairs, especially in sectors such as health, technology, property, energy and transport.

“The fact we have been able to raise funds through placing is a clear demonstration of the level of investor confidence that exists in Freshwater’s unique regional-specialist strategy.” said Howell.

The funding for the acquisition has been raised by a placing of 1,305,881 new ordinary shares at a price of 36p per ordinary share.

The total raised was £0.47million.

McCormick commented: “We are really excited about becoming part of the Freshwater network and to be able to introduce the Freshwater brand to Ireland. Our experience to date of working with Freshwater on mutual clients such as Specsavers has already demonstrated how effectively the two teams can work together, and we look forward to working closely with the specialist teams in the future to expand the services we are able to offer clients.”

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