SINGAPORE--Pelham Bell Pottinger (PBP) is eyeing Asian expansion after buying out David Wynne-Morgan, who previously owned 49 percent of the firm's operations in the region.

The move sees Bell Pottinger take total control after initially owning 51 percent of PBP Asia, which launched in Singapore in 2010. It comes after Bell Pottinger deputy chairman Piers Pottinger relocated from London to Singapore in January to oversee Asian operations in a chairman role.

Former Hill + Knowlton chairman Wynne-Morgan is now working as a consultant for Pelham Bell Pottinger in London. 

"David Wynn-Morgan came in on a joint venture basis to help us build the business up out there," Bell Pottinger CEO James Henderson told the Holmes Report. "He was always very clear that it would be for a finite period of time and with the advent of Piers Pottinger going in as chairman of the Asian business, we took the opportunity to buy out the other half we didn’t own."

Henderson added that PBP Asia would open a Hong Kong office later this year, after growing rapidly under Singapore-based CEO Ang Shih-Huei.

"We’re very happy with the progress," said Henderson. "Within three years it’s developed into a mainstream player, winning business across all disciplines, not just financial."

Last year, PBP Asia won the Platinum SABRE Award for its work on behalf of Golden Agri-Resources. 

After leading the MBO of Bell Pottinger from Chime Communications last year, Henderson noted that Asia and the Middle East remain the agency's key growth markets outside the UK. Pottinger, he noted, will look to grow PBP Asia into other Asian markets such as Myanmar.