Pagefield owner PPHC ramps up political consultancy with WPI acquisition
AIM-listed consultancy firm PPHC has ramped up its politics offering after acquiring government relations business WPI Strategy.
Founded in 2014, WPI turns over around £2.5m per year and counts the likes of London City Airport, Microsoft, Pension Insurance Corporation, and Vodafone Three among its clients.
The company, which counts a number of former Labour advisers among its dozen or so staff, offers political and regulatory due diligence services as well as data-led economic insight. In 2025, WPI Strategy was awarded consultancy of the year by City PM.
PPHC, which also owns PR firm Pagefield, said WPI “brings a differentiated research-driven advocacy model combining policy advisory, economic modelling [and] impact analysis.”
The consultancy said WPI would be integrated into Pagefield once the transaction was complete in April.
The terms of the deal were not disclosed. PPHC shares fell 2.1 per cent to 930p following news of the acquisition.
“For a relatively small company they definitely punch above their weight and we saw a bit of ourselves in them when we were a bit smaller before we joined PPHC,” Oliver Foster, chief executive of Pagefield, told City PM.
“So much is up in the air with politics in this country let alone around the world and you need to have that connectivity amongst all of the parties… so adding further insight from a cross-party perspective through this acquisition can only be beneficial to our existing clients.”
Consulting firms step up politics offer after Global Counsel demise
The acquisition is the latest sign of London consultancies increasing their political relations offering following the collapse of Global Counsel last month.
The Mandelson-founded Global Counsel had been one of London’s most respected political consultancies before emails released in the so-called Epstein files showed the sex trafficker had played a prominent role in the agency’s infancy, advising on strategy and potential clients.
Washington-headquartered advisory firm Capstone has made as many as 20 senior hires from the defunct business as part of a concerted push from the shop’s leadership to plug the gap left by Global Counsel in the UK advisory market, after a client exodus forced it to shutter operations last month.
It has already snapped up six UK-based political advisers, including Global Counsel’s head of European corporate advisory, Daniel Capparelli and EU healthcare lead, Emma Eatwell.
Foster said Pagefield would also be recruiting up a former Global Counsel staffer to its ranks as soon as this week.