Peppercomm snaps up finance and IR firm

Strategic communications and marketing firm Peppercomm has acquired asset management, capital markets and IR specialist Walek & Associates, creating a specialized unit known as WalekPeppercomm.

Ed Moed, co-founder and managing partner at Peppercomm, which is headquartered in New York City and has offices in San Francisco and London, says the firm’s goal is ‘to be a really fast-moving, entrepreneurial, smart agency that offers a different way of thinking’, rather than a top-five global agency.

‘We were looking for a partner that had really deep, top-of-the-line industry experience and knowledge in capital markets, finance and IR that could do good crisis work and that had a good reputation,’ Moed continues in a press statement, adding that the two firms’ cultures were also a good fit. ‘It’s great to have the expertise and all that but you have to have cultures that match.’ 

Peppercomm reported revenue of $15.9 mn last year, up 11 percent on 2011. And while the financial details of the deal were kept under wraps, Moed says the firm’s purchase of Walek, and its earlier acquisition of boutique agency Janine Gordon & Associates, have increased Peppercomm’s bottom line by around 25 percent.

No layoffs are expected as a result of the deal, according to the statement, with Walek’s leadership team transitioning to roles at Peppercomm. Thomas Walek, president and founder of Walek & Associates, will now serve as president of the WalekPeppercomm unit.

The newly combined firm will have a financial services client list that includes Pershing, EY and Genworth Financial.