Shandwick International, part of one of the world's biggest public relations companies, has acquired the Irish PR consultancies, Financial & Corporate Communicatons, for an undisclosed sum. It is understood, however, to be less than the £3 million (€3.8 million) at which the bigger Drury Communications was reportedly valued recently.

FCC, founded in 1989, has two shareholders - managing director Ms Eileen Gleeson, who has a 74 per cent stake, and Ms Mary McCarthy with the 26 per cent balance. Ms Gleeson and Ms McCarthy will remain under a four-year earn-out agreement. The deal with Shandwick involves an up-front payment, with the remainder linked to profits over the term of the earn-out. FCC has a staff of 15, who will be remaining under the new ownership.

FCC and Shandwick acted for Esat Telecom during the hostile takeover bid from Telenor earlier this year, although it is understood there had been contacts between the two firms before the Esat bid.