Chime Acquires Icon For £11m

Event branding and production specialist Icon, has been acquired by global PR, advertising and marketing group Chime Communications, in an £11m deal.

Chime, the holding company for international public relations group Bell Pottinger, has highlighted the growth opportunities surrounding the London 2012 and Rio 2016 Olympics for its decision to invest.

The acquisition comes two and a half years after Icon’s management buy-out from the CSS Stellar organisation, since which it has expanded successfully growing sales from 11.6m in 2008, to 18.6m in 2010 – primarily through organic growth augmented by the acquisition of event production agency MEI.

Chime is made up of four divisions, 50 agencies and over 1,200 people, with offices all around the world.

John Francis, managing director of Icon, said: ‘This is an exciting prospect for Icon and one which will have significant benefits for both our employees and clients alike’.

‘Chime’s overseas operations will help to strengthen and augment our capabilities outside of the UK, enabling us to provide an even better global service to our existing and future international clientele’.

Icon has confirmed that it will continue to operate from its head office in south east London, and its existing facilities in Germany, Qatar, the UAE, Canada, India and South Africa, all under the control of the current Icon management team.

Edward Leask, director of Chime’s sports marketing division added: ‘Icon has an unparalleled reputation for delivering World Class branding implementation solutions across the biggest sporting events on the planet’.

‘It has also developed a formidable reputation for innovative and unique experiential ideas that will augment the work we are already delivering across our event and consultancy businesses within CSM as well as the Chime network’.