Huntsworth acquires Axis	July 2007

by Gina-Louise Monari

Axis Healthcare Communications LLC has been acquired, but the ad agency Trapezoid is not part of the deal. Axis was acquired in July by Huntsworth Plc., the same company that acquired the Philadelphia health-care advertising agency Dorland Global Corp. Axis joins Dorland as part of the Huntsworth Health operating unit. With the addition of Axis, Huntsworth managers say the health unit now has the ability to offer a complete range of services.

Huntsworth is a marketing and communications group, operating 60 principal offices in 30 countries globally. Huntsworth Health provides global integrated communications, including market research, Internet services, public and professional relations, as well as branding and marketing communications activities. Huntsworth has a presence in Europe and the United Kingdom, which is expected to be beneficial to Axis’ offerings globally. “One of the things that our clients have been asking us for over the last couple of years is greater global capability, and this provides us with a global network that will support our clients tremendously,” says Neil Matheson, Chief Operating Officer, Axis. “With the Internet and everything that’s going on in pharmaceutical marketing, it’s a global marketplace. Being able to provide global services to our clients is critical to us. So, strategically this has been a fantastic move.”

According to Mr. Matheson, the decision to let Trapezoid go came because Axis’ ownership of Trapezoid made the company a less appealing acquisition target to Huntsworth, as Huntsworth already owned an ad agency, Dorland. “Trapezoid had been quite successful for us, but it wasn’t really evolving into a major part of our business," Mr. Matheson told Med Ad News. "So in order to enable us to move on with our acquisition phase — and knowing that Huntsworth had acquired Dorland — we took the opportunity to talk to Alan Toltzis about him taking Trapezoid off on his own, which he elected to do. Trapezoid still exists and is being run by Alan Toltzis in an independent way now; it’s just no longer part of our family.”

With the acquisition of Dorland and the addition of Axis in the United States, Huntsworth can offer a complete range of services, managers say. “The goal is to very quickly work very closely with Dorland and to immediately determine where there are opportunities to provide our clients with a greater range of services,” Mr. Matheson says. “The whole idea here is to be able to provide integrated services when necessary or individual services when necessary, but to be able to say to a client we can help you in a number of ways. That will continue to evolve over the next 12 to 18 months.”

Since Axis' inception in 1999, managers have looked for partnering opportunities that would enable the company to expand its services and network on a global basis. “I’ve always been very open with everybody that works here that our goal would be to build some value in the business and then to determine at some point whether we have the ability to continue to grow on our own or whether we’d need a strategic partner,” Mr. Matheson told Med Ad News. “We got to a stage a year or so ago where we wanted to grow more and we needed resources to do that, certainly financial resources. Our organic growth had been fantastic, but we needed to add some greater depth and critical mass in areas like advertising and PR and wanted to make some acquisitions.

“We were talking to a number of strategic acquirers, because when you’re successful in this business, you get a lot of phone calls to see if you’re interested in selling. When I was introduced to Huntsworth, I immediately recognized that this is a company that had fantastic leadership and a real culture that was very close to what we had built. It's a very visionary company, very entrepreneurial, but also a company that allows the people and the talent to really shine. The more I got to know them, the more I realized that this was a fantastic fit because all of the objectives of trying to build a very large U.S. presence made it a fantastic opportunity. Then they told me that they were actively acquiring Dorland … I’ve always had such high regard for Harry and Rita [Sweeney, the founders of Dorland], and what they’ve done there, and I just felt that that was the next step for us to be able to add those types of services to what we offered and to be able to work with Dorland. This was just such a super opportunity, so it has been a fantastic transaction for us.”

With this transaction, Axis (axis-healthcare.com) adds clinical and medical communications, accredited and non-accredited medical education, interactive communications, and sales training services to Huntsworth Health’s integrated communications offerings. These services are synergistic with the market research, advertising, and public relations services that are offered through Huntsworth Health UK and the marketing communications services offered by Dorland Global in the United States. The Axis group of companies includes Curatio CME Institute, an accredited provider of continuing medical education; ApotheCom Associates and Helix Medical Communications, medical communications agencies offering strategically driven science-based communications programs; Evoke Healthcare Interaction, a full-service interactive agency; and Axiom Professional Health Learning, a sales training and professional development company.

Axis’ businesses will be conducted by management and staff, without interruption. According to Mr. Matheson, the partnership offers opportunities in business growth and career development for all Axis employees. In addition, the company will not undergo any structural changes to the business, which retains all of its account teams.

According to Mr. Matheson, Huntsworth has a commitment to build a formidable business in the United States. The company has a commitment to be a leader in the health-care sector, and further acquisitions are likely. “Certainly any acquisitions that would be synergistic; one of the areas that we feel very strongly would be an area for acquisition would be market research, and also in the health outcomes/pharmacoeconomics reimbursement-type-end of the spectrum,” Mr. Matheson says. “So, yes, definitely there will be further growth through acquisitions over the years.”