Faulds to head marketing group behind success of 2010 Papal visit

SCOTS advertising veteran Jim Faulds is to take the chair of events and marketing agency WRG Creative Communication after the group secured a £12 million funding injection from Lloyds.

Faulds will be joined on the board by former Channel 4 boss Lord Michael Grade, who takes up a non-executive directorship.

WRG, which is headquartered in Manchester, specialises in managing live events such as the recent Papal visit and G20 summit. Its assignments include product launches, summits, ceremonies, live broadcasts and installations.

The firm will use the investment, which comes from Lloyds' private equity arm LDC, to target acquisitions both in the UK and overseas as it looks to grow its global footprint. Currently, the group has additional offices in London, New York and Qatar.

Faulds, who will be non-executive chairman, founded his eponymous advertising and marketing services business in the mid 1980s. Having sold the firm in December 2001, he has carved out a niche as a professional non-executive director on a number of company boards.

His appointment as chairman of the Dunfermline Building Society in 2007 caused some surprise in the Scottish business community. He stood down after the society was rescued two years ago by the Nationwide.

Faulds currently chairs crane hire heavyweight Ainscough and I-Design, the Tayside firm whose software is used in the ATM networks of several major banks.

Barry Day, chief executive at WRG, said: "High demand for our differentiated, experiential communications offering has seen us quickly grow into a niche, global business, supporting the marketing ambitions of some of the world's largest brands. LDC's investment provides a platform to further expand both our suite of services and our geographical reach - particularly in the emerging key markets of central and eastern Asia."

The funding deal was led by LDC investment directors Simon Braham and Jon Pickering. Braham will now join WRG's board.

He said: "WRG benefits from a highly experienced and passionate management team, which has generated impressive growth, attracted a portfolio of blue chip clients, and successfully integrated a number of acquisitions.

"Building on this success, we will support the company's buy and build strategy and international expansion. We are confident that WRG can realise considerable growth over the coming years."

The funding marks LDC's tenth such deal this year. Other businesses it has invested in include MusicMagpie.co.uk, the buyer and retailer of used CDs, DVDs and games chaired by Allan Leighton, the former boss of Asda and Royal Mail.LDC, which specialises in providing equity investment of between 2m and 100m, has deployed a total of more than 200m of capital so far this year.