Tigerbond completes buyout of Beattie Communications in wake of founder's resignation

PR firm Tigerbond has completed the management buyout of Beattie Communications in the wake of the resignation of its founder, Gordon Beattie.

The business has transferred to majority shareholder Laurna Woods and her leadership team of Elspeth Brown, Joanne Spence, Rachel Gladwin and Chris Gilmour. Headquartered in London, Tigerbond has offices in the UK – including Glasgow – Ireland and Canada.

Woods confirmed that the entire client book, agency personnel, office network in the UK, Ireland and Canada and the suite of Only boutiques are included in the deal which sees Beattie exit the business after 35 years.

The former journalist quit earlier this year after a controversial social media post in which he said: “At Beattie Communications we don’t hire blacks, gays or Catholics.” He added that the company only takes on “talented people” and does not care about their skin colour, sexual orientation or religion.

Elspeth Brown, Rachel Gladwin, Laurna Woods, Joanne Spence and Chris Gilmour of Tigerbond.

On resigning, he said he issued the post with the best of intent but accepted that the language was “inappropriate”, adding that he was “truly sorry” for any offence caused.

The management buyout team was advised by WJM. Financial terms surrounding the deal have not been disclosed.

Woods said: “Today marks the beginning of an exciting new chapter for our talented team and fantastic clients. We’ve been overwhelmed by the positive response we’ve had from long standing and new clients since we rebranded as Tigerbond.

“We have big plans for the agency both in the UK and overseas as we strengthen our offer and further extend our footprint and headcount in the months and years ahead.”

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