Magnus to merge with Citadel

Corporate and financial communication firms, Citadel PR and Magnus Investor Relations, have entered into an agreement to combine their businesses to form a significant independent national player.

Under the merger, the two companies will retain their independence and leadership structure through Citadel founders Martin Debelle, Peter Brookes and Helen McCombie, and Magnus founder John Gardner.

The new firm, named Citadel-Magnus, will continue to service clients from offices in Perth and Sydney with a workforce of 20.

The combined group’s practice areas include media and investor relations, corporate communication, issues and crisis management, media and presentation training, government relations and corporate brand positioning.

Magnus was ranked 14 in WA public and investor relations firms based on its six local staff. It has been one of WA’s busiest public relations advisers in the deals space, according to BNiQ database.

Since data was first gathered by Business News in 2010, Magnus has ranked second overall in WA mergers and acquisitions, working on 26 deals worth more than $6.3 billion and was fifth in the WA equity capital markets, with 24 transactions worth $418 million.

In the past 12 months the pace has been less hectic. Magnus was ranked 7^th in M&A with three transactions worth $271.4 million and third in ECM with five transactions worth $86.2 million.

Major deals clients have included Otto Energy, Gryphon Minerals, Cedar Woods Properties and Amcom Telecommunications. Other notable clients have been CITIC Pacific Mining, Birimian Gold, Cassini Resources, Azure Minerals, Kingsrose Mining, Imdex, Brookfield Rail and Youth Focus.

Citadel has been a more peripheral player in the WA scene, with two ECM transactions worth $81 million and one M&A deal worth $100 million. Calibre Group was a client in two of those deals and Central Petroleum was the other.

Mr Debelle, who will be executive chairman for Citadel-Magnus, said the merger followed 18 months of discussions between the two parties and a thorough due diligence process.

Mr Gardner said Citadel’s substantial corporate transactions experience would accelerate Magnus’s client offering considerably.

“Collectively, both businesses have advised on about 25 initial public offerings that, combined with deals in the past six years, would be valued at over $100 billion,” he said.

The Perth office of Citadel-Magnus will be managed by Mr Gardner and the Sydney office will be managed by Mr Brookes, while Ms McCombie will assume the role of executive director.

The senior team of the combined group also includes Garry Nickson, Matthew Gerber, Rupert Dearden and Matthew Gregorowski.

The combined company has an international reach through its partnership with PROI Worldwide, a consortium of independent public relations firms from across the world.