KUALA LUMPUR — Publicis PR operations in Malaysia and Indonesia have been rebranded as MSL, taking the latter network's headcount in Southeast Asia to 170 fee earners across six countries.

The new units join other MSL offices in the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. 

In Malaysia, Leo Burnett / Arc PR Worldwide has rebranded as MSL. The unit, with more than 20 professionals, half of whom are social media specialists, is led by director of PR Sharmila Ramanath who reports to Kien Eng Tan, CEO of Publicis One Malaysia. 

In Indonesia, Leo PR will rebrand to MSL at the star of May. Industry veteran Eugene Laksono leads the PR unit in Jakarta, reporting to Brian Capel, CEO of Publicis One in Indonesia. MSL now has a dozen staff members in Indonesia.

“Southeast Asia is the fastest growing region in the MSL global network, with more than 40 percent growth achieved in the last year alone," said MSL Asia-Pacific president Glenn Osaki. "By investing in Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta, and adding them to our footprint, we are able to offer our clients the most complete coverage across ASEAN. This in turn will create scale, efficiency, best practice sharing, skills training, and access to the top talent."

In the last two years, MSL has converted existing operations around the world from Arc Worldwide and Leo Burnett to the MSL brand, including Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Thailand, Egypt, Lebanon, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and UAE, and the Czech Republic.