Member Article

St Ives strengthens healthcare and pharma credentials with acquisition of the Health Hive Group

St Ives plc (“St Ives” or the “Group”), the UK’s leading provider of marketing solutions and publishing services, today announces the acquisition of leading healthcare strategic consulting and communications business, The Health Hive Group.

The deal is a continuation of the Group’s strategy to create a complementary range of marketing and communications services that will add further value to existing and new clients.

Established in 2008, The Hive Group is based in central London. It has over 75 employees, and provides strategic consulting and communications services to a long-standing, international client base, which includes 6 of the top 10 pharmaceutical companies.

Hive’s group philosophy is to improve patient outcomes by identifying, understanding and creating change in healthcare communications. The business operates under three main divisions:

• Hive, a strategic healthcare consultancy and communications business
• Pollen, a strategic medical communications consultancy
• eBee, a specialist digital healthcare agency.

Following the acquisition, The Hive Group will operate as a subsidiary of St Ives, continuing to be managed from its current headquarters by the existing management team, including founding directors Ian Busby, Jas Hummel and Tim Scorer.

Patrick Martell, chief executive of St Ives Group, said: “Hive’s offering of consultancy services and digital solutions complements our existing marketing services businesses, and the acquisition considerably increases our credentials in the large and very attractive healthcare and pharmaceuticals industries. I am delighted to welcome the Hive team to the Group and look forward to supporting its growth plans.”

Ian Busby, Jas Hummel and Tim Scorer, founding directors of The Hive Group, commented: “After a 6 month global process the three of us are delighted to be a part of St Ives. It’s a testament to the talent of our whole team and the uniqueness of our business. St Ives has a track record of supporting differentiated, rapidly growing and entrepreneurial companies. We have ambitious plans to further develop our business footprint and look forward to realising these plans as part of St Ives.”

Results Healthcare (a division of Results International) acted as Corporate Finance advisor to the Health Hive Group.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by St Ives Group .