NEW YORK — Ketchum and global management consultancy Daggerwing Group have introduced DaggerwingTransACT, an alliance offering integrated management consulting and communications services. It will cater to publicly held companies engaged in mergers, acquisitions, spin-offs and other transactions and aims to consider organizational culture in transactions. 

"In many M&A transactions, there's an intense focus on 'getting the deal done,' with little or no attention paid to the desired outcomes for corporate culture," said Marc Drechsler, partner and head of financial communications at Ketchum. 

Ketchum Change, the firm's leadership and change management unit, merged with Daggerwing in December 2016. At the time, Ketchum CEO Rob Flaherty said the merger would tremendously deepen and broaden the capabilities of both firms. 

They saw an opportunity to strengthen their offerings by combining Daggerwing's corporate culture, employee engagement and change management expertise with Ketchum's financial communications speciality. The New York based financial service handles external communications surrounding M&A transactions, spin-offs, new listings, bankruptcies and other corporate communications assignments. 

"Too many M&A deals fail to deliver, or actually destroy, value because of issue surrounding corporate culture," said Ewan Main, Daggerwing Group CEO. "We believe deals are more likely to pay off for shareholders if tangible assets can be managed with the same clarity and focus on tangible assets, which is why our new offering with culture first in the value creation process."