LONDON—Prosper Group, the US-based consultancy that advises public relations and marketing communications agencies on mergers and acquisitions and business development, has appointed Michael Murphy & Ltd as its first international affiliate partner.

Prosper, formed in 2013 by founding partners Alex Halbur and David Bosses, now has 14 senior professional staff and consultants based in six locations throughout the US, including prominent industry figures such as Rich Jernstedt, former CEO of GolinHarris (now Golin); Kathy Cripps, ex-president of the PR Council; John Seng, former owner of Spectrum Science Communications; Bruce Bishop, former CFO at Next Fifteen; and Doug Baxter, an advertising and digital agency founder.

It provides growth and M&A advisory services to more than 50 agencies ranging in size from $1 million to $100 million. Prosper worked with the management team of Cassidy Associates to negotiate the lobbying firm’s buyout from Interpublic, and continues to support the team with financial and operational advice. Prosper also serves in a similar advisory capacity with Small Girls PR after initially assisting with a valuation of the firm.

According to Halbur, “There is a clear appetite from agency owners to call on outside counsel to help them to grow and improve their businesses, develop talent, hone their offerings, deal with succession planning and examine exit routes. As the pace of change in the agency landscape continues to accelerate, agencies need to quickly adapt and transform, or they will be left behind. To date, our services have largely been confined to the US market. We now want to increase our offer so that we can counsel US agencies who wish to expand and develop internationally, as well as supporting international firms who wish to build a presence in the US.”


Michael Murphy (pictured) held numerous senior roles at Weber Shandwick, and until five years ago served as global CEO of Grayling before setting up his own consulting business. He is an international adviser to WE Communications and a non-executive director of  the global public affairs firm Interel. He has worked with Allison & Partners and UK-based firms Alfred, Lodestone and destination marketing agency Coverdale Barclay as well as Central European public affairs firm CEC Government Relations and Strateus Group, based in North Africa.