Forward advises Touchdown shareholders on sale to Ruder Finn
Forward is delighted to have advised the shareholders of Touchdown PR on the sale of the business to US headquartered, Ruder Finn.
Ruder Finn’s global footprint will enable Touchdown to further accelerate its strong revenue growth, attract the best new talent, and win exciting business and technology clients seeking a global solution to their PR and communications needs. For Ruder Finn, Touchdown significantly enhances its Technology and Innovation practice adding innovative technology clients and a major presence in both US and UK.
Led by Sarah Moores and Amie Goodlad, Forward Corporate Finance were retained to work with the Touchdown shareholders to help advise on and deliver the next phase of their journey. Forward ran a competitive sale process with interest from both global trade buyers and private equity. The shareholders felt a clear and close alignment of values with the Ruder Finn leadership team, particularly in terms of people culture, global ambitions and how to manage growth successfully.
Founded by James and Emma Carter 16 years ago, Touchdown specialises in servicing clients in the enterprise technology innovation sector, ranging from cyber security, data protection/management and storage, to networks, communications, big data, AI and cloud. Touchdown helps to tell their client’s stories of innovative breakthroughs, helping these brands break into markets typically dominated by incumbent technology companies, by delivering valuable earned, owned and paid media airtime at global scale and winning the attention of potential customers. Touchdown’s clients include Barracuda, Bitdefender, Exabeam, Cubic, Globalization Partners, Forter, Progress Software and more. The agency operates in North America, across Central and Western Europe and in all major Asian markets and is headquartered in Basingstoke and Austin, Texas.
Founded in 1948, Ruder Finn is one of the world’s largest independent global communications and creative agencies, with PR Week reporting revenues in excess of $110m for 2021. The acquisition is the latest in a series of recent deals to build on its capabilities in healthcare, technology, creative and change management, and its third in 2022 alone.
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