SYDNEY — Roughly two years after the birth of the brand, Newgate Asia Pacific is formally adopting the name SEC Newgate, aligning itself with sister offices that operate under that name worldwide.

The rebrand comes on the heels of a strong first half of the year for parent company SEC Newgate, during which the larger company, which has 38 offices in 15 countries, saw revenue rising 15% to €36.3 million.

SEC Newgate Australia managing partner Brian Tyson, who is also deputy CEO of parent company SEC Newgate said the eight-year-old Asia-Pacific operation is "a big contributor" to that performance, as it had “very strong” half year performance and all reported high levels of business activity, including handling a “record-breaking” number of IPOs in Hong Kong, M&A, restructuring and fundraising mandates in Singapore and Australia.

Tyson credited that success to leaders including Greater China managing partner James Hill, who joined the firm a year ago in Hong Kong. Since his arrival, the firm has added Uber and Verizon to its client list, and has promoted Candise Tang to partner. 

The firm also recently hired two industry veterans — Pete McConnell and Angus Trigg — as partners in Sydney and Jamin Smith as head of Brisbane office.

The APAC team has more than 120 people across the region. 

The new brand, which already is being used in the UK and across Europe, applies to Newgate APAC’s 10 regional offices in Australia, Greater China and Singapore. The SEC Newgate brand was born from the 2019 merger of UK agency Porta, which owned Newgate, and Italian public affairs firm SEC, which gave rise to the sprawling global communications business it is today.

Tyson said the rebrand is part of a larger effort to build global awareness of the brand and the array of services it offers.

“I don’t think I have ever seen a time when local issues and global issues are so aligned. Being able to leverage the experience and particulars of the issues in each market gives a global group like ours the opportunity to share best practices and experience from market to market," Tyson said.