ICR acquires Consilium, creating global leader in healthcare communications

12 Sep 23
Member news

Consilium to combine with ICR’s US-based healthcare practice, providing clients with seamless integrated support for strategic communications and investor engagement across US, Europe and Asia
Combined practice includes more than 100 team members and nearly 200 clients
Consilium founders to lead European operations as members of healthcare executive team at ICR
Acquisition follows successful long-standing joint venture partnership

ICR, a leading global strategic communications and advisory firm, today announced it has acquired Consilium Strategic Communications, a leading international strategic healthcare communications and investor relations firm focused on Europe and headquartered in London. The transaction, which follows almost a decade of joint venture collaboration, will combine Consilium with ICR’s US-based healthcare practice, ICR Westwicke, forming a global healthcare strategic and financial communications powerhouse with nearly 200 clients and more than 100 team members across three continents.

Current clients of Consilium will immediately benefit from the full breadth of ICR’s services including: investor relations; capital markets and IPO advisory; investor access; ESG advisory; corporate communications and media relations; crisis and special situations; marketing PR; social media; and branding & design. Consilium will operate under the “ICR Consilium” brand and integrate its teams and activities with ICR’s existing healthcare practice.

Consilium was formed in 2013 by Mary-Jane Elliott, Founder and Managing Partner, along with Amber Fennell, Senior Partner and Co-founder. Over the past 10 years the firm has grown to become the market leader in healthcare strategic communications and IR in Europe. Mary-Jane Elliott will continue to lead the firm from its headquarters in London and both she and Amber Fennell will join the ICR healthcare leadership team, which includes Mark Klausner and Bob East (for Investor Relations), and Terri Clevenger and Michael O’Brien (for Public Relations). The transaction establishes ICR’s first official on-the-ground presence in Europe, broadening its global footprint to now include North America, Asia Pacific and UK/Europe.

Tom Ryan, Founder & CEO of ICR, said: “Consilium has long been recognized as the preeminent healthcare communications and advisory firm across Europe and our years of collaboration have allowed us to learn first-hand what makes them so unique. MJ, Amber and their team have built an incredible business, with a hard-earned reputation for deep sector expertise, highly strategic counsel and outstanding client service. Their business and culture could not align more perfectly with ICR’s and we are thrilled to advance our partnership as a single, unified team.

“We were fortunate to add the Westwicke team to ICR in 2019 and have enjoyed tremendous success since then, growing our healthcare practice nearly three-fold. Combining the Consilium and ICR Westwicke teams allows us to offer truly comprehensive global support to healthcare companies while also extending ICR’s presence into Europe,” Mr. Ryan continued.

Mary-Jane Elliott, Managing Partner at ICR Consilium, said: "Over the past 10 years we have had the great pleasure to build Consilium into Europe's leading independent strategic communications agency for the healthcare sector with the sole purpose of serving our clients globally. I am extremely proud of what we have achieved as a team and thank our clients, colleagues past and present, and fellow advisors for their ongoing trust and support.

"I am excited by our next phase of growth as part of ICR, who are backed by two leading global private equity firms – CDPQ and Investcorp, and what opportunities this offers, particularly in the US, to our clients and colleagues, including offering a broader range of capabilities. We have been joint-venture partners for almost a decade and have a complementary fit in international healthcare PR and IR advisory work. Over the years of working with ICR we have shared many clients and delivered fantastic and seamless benefits, as well as formed strong relationships with the ICR team across the US. Now is the right time to deepen that relationship, which coincides with hopefully the continued re-opening of the capital markets, and we look forward to what we can accomplish together,” Mary-Jane Elliott added.

This transaction creates one of the largest global specialist healthcare communications practices and significantly enhances ICR’s capabilities in Europe, by increasing its practice size in both revenue and headcount and broadening its service offerings. The ICR and Consilium combination will immediately provide existing and new ICR Consilium clients with access to integrated support across ICR’s entire platform of services and the combination creates exciting new growth opportunities for all team members.

Together, ICR and Consilium bring unmatched depth of expertise in healthcare advisory services across IR and strategic communications and the capabilities to support healthcare companies globally across all subsectors including biopharma, medical technology, diagnostics, healthcare services and information technology, and through all stages of growth from early-stage development, to public offerings, to mature public companies. The firm’s full range of critical strategic communication and investor relations services enable the combined team to support healthcare businesses and leaders with strategic expertise for gaining investor support, building and managing reputation, executing and communicating capital raising and other transactions, responding to crises, introducing new products, communicating regulatory developments and more.

Consilium's team of more than 45 PR and IR professionals, including former journalists, sell-side analysts, industry communications experts, and financial PR practitioners combines with ICR Westwicke’s more than 70 team members with similar professional backgrounds in healthcare. Consilium adds to ICR’s existing client base and bolsters the firm’s expertise in strategic healthcare communications and investor relations, with deep industry knowledge and an unrivalled network across the US, UK, continental Europe and Asia.

Amber Fennell, Senior Partner, ICR Consilium, added: “The combination of Consilium with ICR creates an unrivalled transatlantic strategic communications practice providing support across all aspects of healthcare corporate communications and financial transactions. ICR has an excellent brand and reputation and is one of the fastest growing communications agencies in the US. Working together we will be able to provide our combined healthcare clients with even more seamless and integrated access to a breadth of PR and IR advisory services, in London, across Europe and in the US.”