Bell sounds out Chime’s public relations division
LORD Bell is considering a management buyout of parts of Chime, the marketing group which he chairs.
Margaret Thatcher’s former media guru, as well as Chime deputy chair Piers Pottinger and other executives, plan to buy some of Chime’s public relations businesses, the firm said.
Chime, which provides services in public relations, advertising and sports marketing, said its board agreed that Lord Bell could go ahead with the potential deal. It said: “No proposal has yet been made and there can be no certainty that a proposal which the board can recommend to shareholders will be forthcoming.”
Bell Pottinger, part of Chime, was at the centre of a media storm over lobbying in December. At the time Lord Bell defended its role, saying it was in the “national interest” that David Cameron raise the copyright concerns of a client during a visit by Chinese premier Wen Jiabao.