DÜSSELDORF – Global communications group Havas has bought German consultancy Deekeling Arndt Advisors (DAA), which has 70 staff in offices in Düsseldorf, Frankfurt and Berlin. The management team remains in place, as does DAA’s name. DAA offers corporate, financial and public affairs, reputation management and crisis communications. DAA was already the exclusive German partner of AMO Global, Havas Group’s worldwide corporate and financial communications network.

JOHANNESBURG – Integrated brand and communications group Joe Public United has appointed Reatile Tekateka as managing partner of its PR agency, Engage Joe Public. Tekateka was previously head of PR and communications at pan-African TV network Kwesé. She said her focus would be on “ensuring that PR remains a relevant and necessary part of any brand’s arsenal by delivering responsive and authentic strategies.” Founded in 1998, Joe Public United is one of South Africa’s largest independent marketing groups. The group has African and European partners and affiliates in 14 countries.

LONDON – Lansons is advising on what is believed to be the first IPO of 2018: the flotation of financial platform provider IntegraFin Holdings on the main market of the London Stock Exchange. The communications team is led by Lansons CEO Tony Langham and board director Rollo Crichton-Stuart. IntegraFin provides services to UK clients and their financial advisers through Transact, the first advisor platform to be launched in the UK in 2000, and remains a leading independent platform, with £29.7 billion of funds under direction.

LONDON – Comic Relief has appointed Bottle to handle regional PR around its Sport Relief 2018 fundraising drive. Bottle will support the charity’s in-house PR team to deliver a creative PR and online influencer campaign to drive mass involvement in Sport Relief across the South and East of the UK this spring. The brief includes showcasing UK projects funded by Sport Relief. Comic Relief senior communications manager Kate Jones said: “We see a lot of agencies but Bottle really stood out. Their ideas were in tune with our values, and they got the nuances of Sport Relief right first time, which is rare.”

DUBLIN – Cicero Group has appointed Robert O'Reilly, political economy special advisor to the British ambassador to Ireland, to lead its new Dublin office and support clients grappling with the challenges of Brexit. O'Reilly advised the past two ambassadors on Irish politics, business engagement, economics, and trade policy. He formerly practiced as a barrister in Ireland and the British Virgin Islands, specialising in commercial, company, banking and insurance law. O'Reilly will provide public affairs and corporate communications to the agency's domestic and international clients.

LONDON – Yellow Jersey, the financial, corporate, brand and crisis communications agency with offices in London, Leeds and Zurich, has become a partner in IPREX, the $380 million network of communication agencies with 1,600 staff and 110 offices worldwide. Founded in 2009, Yellow Jersey offers investor and capital markets services to support IPO, M&A and financial calendar programmes for sectors including tech, media and telecoms, retail, mining, energy, healthcare and financial services.

LONDON – B2B tech specialist Red Lorry Yellow Lorry has been selected by business events organiser KNect365 to provide PR support for TV Connect, which covers key topics in the international video distribution and delivery sector. The agency has a brief to boost the profile of the TV Connect event at the Olympia Exhibition Centre this May in the media, telecoms, and technology industries.