VIENNA--Austrian tech company Kapsch Group has consolidated global PR duties with Grayling, following a competitive review.

The appointment sees Grayling take charge of Kapsch's international communications strategy, and add the Austrian local market business to its existing remit over Poland, Russia and Sweden. The new assignment was previously handled by Ketchum Pleon.

Kapsch has tasked Grayling with overseeing corporate communications, brand and product PR for the group and its three subsidiaries, which offer products and services in the fields of IT, telecoms and road telematics.

The account will be managed and coordinated out of Grayling’s Vienna office, led by MD Bernhard Hudik and unit director Dirk Moser.

"We have invested much time in finding the right agency; key to our search was the need for a strong agency partner able to support our challenging growth strategy," said Alf Netek, Kapsch Group CMO. "We chose Grayling as they perfectly combine local expertise with access to a comprehensive global network."

Kapsch has about 5,000 employees worldwide, and reported revenues of 830m euros in 2011. The company's traffic unit, which develops electronic toll collection systems, accounted for around half of its earnings, with the remainder evenly split between telecommunications and enterprise IT.