Congleton, England - 
Pembridge, the business accelerator for the creative industry, today announces its investment in Northbank Communications following the innovative merger between a PR agency and a marketing communications consultancy, Charles Consultants and STMP Marketing Solutions, respectively. The partners at Pembridge drove the deal from introduction to completion and have taken a minority stake in the merged entity. Pembridge holds a seat on the board and will advise Northbank strategically on an on-going basis after the deal.
Pembridge consists of senior players from creative services firms including advertising, music, film, TV, PR, marketing and finance who work closely with creative companies to help them realize their commercial potential and maximum profitability. Pembridge works in partnership with its portfolio companies to help them achieve these goals in ways that empower companies like Northbank to keep control of their own business, to focus on staying at the forefront of creativity and, most importantly, to remain independent.
Mark Adams of Pembridge commented, "The Northbank merger is representative of the innovation we bring to the creative sector. Pembridge is at the forefront of tailoring deals to suit the strategic needs of individual creative firms. The response to our proposition has been very positive across all sectors - PR, advertising, TV, film, radio, music, design - and we are delighted to include Northbank in our portfolio. They are a fantastic complement to our ever-expanding network of strong, independent creative companies."
Sue Charles, Northbank's CEO, famous for her PR launch of Dolly the Sheep, added, "The merger creates a strong team of skills across all the communications disciplines needed in the life sciences sector. We are excited about working with Pembridge who made this deal happen. We are particularly impressed by the depth and breadth of Pembridge's expertise as well as its active and on-going interest and involvement in the strategy of the business after the deal."
Northbank represents a fully integrated PR and communications firm and focuses on serving science-based companies and organisations, with a strong emphasis on the life science industry. Northbank has a combined client list of over 50 organisations, mostly in the UK and Europe, including Cambridge Antibody Technology, Morphochem AG, Oxford BioMedica plc, Ribotargets Ltd, Solexa Ltd, The Automation Partnership and various members of the Thermo Group of companies. Northbank now totals 19 staff and has an annualised turnover in excess of £1m.
