Independent Australian PR agency SenateSHJ has been acquired in a majority stake by Adfactors PR, India’s largest public relations firm, in a deal that will expand the Indian group’s presence across the Asia Pacific region.
The transaction will bring together the two independent communications firms, combining expertise across reputation, critical issues advisory and change communications.
SenateSHJ will retain its existing identity, client teams and leadership under co-founder and chair Angela Scaffidi AM and chief executive officer Darren Behar.
The consultancy will continue to operate from its Sydney and Melbourne offices, while Adfactors PR chief executive officer Nijay N. Nair, who also leads the firm’s M&A and global initiatives, will join the SenateSHJ board.
Adfactors PR co-founder and managing director Madan Bahal said the two businesses shared a strong alignment in their approach to clients, people and communications.
“SenateSHJ is a formidable business with an outstanding reputation, exceptional leadership and proven expertise in solving complex communication challenges,” Bahal said.
“There is a strong alignment in the way our two organisations think about the world, clients, people and the role we can play in shaping the future.”
Bahal said the partnership comes as India and Australia emerge as a “strategic business corridor”, with the deal expected to create opportunities for clients across the wider Asia Pacific region.
Adfactors PR co-founder and chairman Rajesh Chaturvedi said the partnership would expand the firm’s “relationship capital” into Australia.
“We have had the privilege of serving India Inc. for the last 29 years through many cycles in the global and domestic business environment,” Chaturvedi said.
“I am happy that with this new partnership our relationship capital will expand to a significant market like Australia.”
For SenateSHJ, Scaffidi said the deal marked a new chapter for the consultancy while allowing it to maintain the characteristics that have shaped the business over its 24-year history.
“We’re incredibly proud of the business SenateSHJ has become over the past 24 years – our people, the work we do and our relationships with clients,” Scaffidi said.
“We have built a relationship of deep trust with Adfactors PR over the past decade. We feel a deep connection to the way they think and feel about the world, their people and the work they do with clients.”
Scaffidi said the increasingly international nature of client challenges made access to a broader network increasingly important.
“The problems clients bring us increasingly cross borders,” she said. “Being part of a group with real scale across India, Asia Pacific and beyond means we can help them with more of those problems – without changing what has made this firm what it is.”
