Edelman acquires Dutch health PR firm

New York City-based Edelman has acquired the Dutch firm Hinfelaar PR, Life & Health Communications, whose current clients include Boehringer Ingelheim, MerckSerono and Astellas. The agency, which is made up of seven professionals, also supports several of Edelman's healthcare clients, including AstraZeneca, Novartis, Pfizer and Wyeth.

The Dutch firm, which specialises in health and food communications, was founded in 1998 by Marc Hinfelaar, who will now join Edelman Amsterdam's management team and will lead the combined consumer, health and food teams at the Dutch offices in Amsterdam and Baarn. Before founding the company, Hinfelaar was a partner and senior consultant at the PR firm Forman Grayling B.V. and, earlier in his career, a corporate PR officer at Solvay Pharmaceuticals.

Edelman's Netherlands business, which is headquartered in Amsterdam, employs 50 professionals and has annual revenues of about €4.2m.

The purchase of Hinfelaar is the latest in a string of acquisitions for Edelman. Last month, the company acquired the Brazilian branding and PR firm Significa and the Texas-based PR firm Vollmer, whose clients include the American Heart Association and the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.