AMSTERDAM — SEC Newgate, the global strategic communications, advocacy and research group, has signed a deal to acquire 100% of Dutch communications and public affairs firm Wepublic.

Wepublic has offices in Amsterdam and The Hague with a team of nearly 40 and annual revenues of around €5 million. The agency’s current owners, Maaike van Hooidonk and Mark van den Anker, will remain with Wepublic, while day-to-day management of Wepublic will remain in the hands of managing director Maurice Jansen and director of intelligence Gijs Petter.

Van Hooidonk said the duo had chosen to sell to SEC Newgate because “they can best assist us in achieving our ambitious goals as we invest further in our specialist solutions for strategic issues management and proprietary intelligence tools.”

Van den Anker added: “We will continue providing a top-quality service to our clients and to keep innovating. As part of the SEC Newgate group, we will be even more closely aligned with all societal and political developments regionally and internationally, enabling us to provide better outcomes for our clients.”

SEC Newgate CEO Fiorenzo Tagliabue said: “Wepublic’s strong know-how in public affairs and communications in the Netherlands and the wider region offers interesting synergies. We share the same interests for the development of digital-based tools applied to stakeholder management and advocacy and thanks to this new partnership we can improve our offering worldwide.”

Earlier this year SEC Newgate sold a majority stake to Investcorp for $100 million. In November 2022, the group purchased a majority stake in Mexico City agency Another. It is also eyeing expansion to Asia Pacific.