The FINANCIAL -- The PBN Company, the preeminent strategic communications firm in Russia, Ukraine and the CIS is merging with Hill+Knowlton strategies, the global strategic communications firm with 83 offices in 44 countries, from U.S.-Ukraine Business Council.

Hill+Knowlton Strategies will operate in Russia, Ukraine , Kazakhstan and throughout the CIS under the brand name PBN Hill+Knowlton Strategies.

The merger is the result of WPP acquiring an additional 25.1% stake in The PBN Company. WPP, which bought 49.9% of the company in 2007, brings their holding in PBN Hill+Knowlton Strategies to 75%.

The transaction creates WPP’s first majority-owned, full-service strategic communications firm in the region. PBN’s founders and top executives — Peter B. Necarsulmer, Susan A. Thurman and Myron Wasylyk — will retain a 25% ownership in the new company.

For Hill+Knowlton Strategies and its clients, PBN offers a strong foothold in the emerging CIS markets, particularly in Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan. For PBN and its clients, Hill+Knowlton Strategies offers expertise in strengthening client brands and reputations, and opens up a fully integrated global network for regional companies and governments in all key market centers of Europe, Asia and the
Americas.

The PBN Company provides corporate and crisis communications, government relations, financial communications and marketing communications to both Western companies investing in the CIS and regional companies expanding internationally.

The firm’s clients include Abbott, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, BP, Citi, John Deere, Kingfisher, NYSE Euronext, Rosneft, Visa and Xerox, among others. Together PBN Hill+Knowlton Strategies will realize efficiencies in markets where their operations overlapped. In Russia, where both entities had MOSCOW operations, H+K’s operations will be merged into PBN. In Washington, DC, PBN’s operations will share offices with Hill+Knowlton Strategies.

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