Minnesota’s second-largest PR firm, Padilla Speer Beardsley, announced Monday that it has struck a deal to acquire fellow PR agency CRT/Tanaka.
 
The combined firm will be called PadillaCRT and will remain headquartered in Minneapolis. It will consist of nearly 200 employees, combining Padilla Speer’s 115 and CRT/Tanaka’s 75.
 
Padilla said the combined firm’s total annual revenue will equal $30 million, ranking it among the top 10 independent PR agencies in the country. Padilla spokeswoman Katie Genereux, said Padilla generated $17 million in revenue in 2012, and CRT/Tanaka had $13 million.
 
The deal is expected to close in late August. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Padilla currently has offices in Minneapolis and New York. The purchase of CRT/Tanaka will add offices in Los Angeles; Washington D.C.; Norfolk, Virginia; and Richmond, Virginia—where CRT/Tanaka is based.
 
The company will remain employee-owned, and there are currently no plans to cut positions or otherwise transition jobs, Genereux said.
 
Padilla CEO Lynn Casey will serve as chairman and CEO of PadillaCRT, and CRT/Tanaka CEO Mark Raper will serve as president.
 
“We’re creating a unique agency that clients will value and prospects will want on their short lists,” Casey said in a statement. “Combined, we’ll have a continued commitment to superior client service, deep industry experience in high-growth sectors, and a range of specialties not commonly found in independent firms.”
 
The combined company will be a strategic communications firm that handles branding, research, corporate and investor relations, creative and digital marketing, crisis management, and social media.
 
According to the companies, the combined agency will work in the following industries: food and beverage, health care, business-to-business marketing, consumer products and services, manufacturing, technology, agribusiness, and recreation, among others.
 
Padilla’s clients include Cargill, Coppertone, Glastron, Land O'Lakes, Merck, Pentair, and UnitedHealth Group. CRT/Tanaka’s clients include Air New Zealand, Barnes & Noble College Booksellers, Bissell Homecare, Inc., Girl Scouts of the USA, Hass Avocado Board, and Sprint Nextel.
 
“This combination makes strategic sense for our clients and our employees,” Raper said in a statement. “We know each other well. We have a shared commitment to a collaborative, employee-ownership culture that translates into superior client service. By joining forces, a great next-generation agency will be born.”
 
Although Genereux said talks of the merger began just a few months ago, the two firms had already collaborated on client assignments and joint employee development programs in the past. They are both members of the Lumin Collaborative, which, according to the companies, is the industry’s first multi-agency think tank.