Instinctif Partners

This article is part of the Lobbying Portal, a sunlight project from Spinwatch.

Instinctif Partners was formed in February 2014 to bring the College Group of companies together. It is headed by lobbyists Richard Nichols (CEO) and Tim Fallon.

The agency employs 400 people in 20 offices across 12 countries, with specialisms spanning capital markets, corporate affairs, public policy, engagement, life sciences, content and creative, strategic insight and research.

College Group

College Group grew out of international financial PR specialist College Hill, launched in 1990 by Alex Sandberg. College Hill claimed to offer the services "needed to build and protect clients' reputations with their major stakeholders": Media relations, capital markets communications, government and regulator relations, internal communications, strategic research, brand positioning, design and online communications.

In 2006 College Group was created, opening offices Hong Kong, India and South Africa and Europe. In 2011 the group was sold to private equity investor Vitruvian Partners. The agency subsequently bought Russia and CIS investor relations specialist Shared Value, UK financial PR business Merlin Financial Communications, German-based Haubrok Investor Relations and the Middle Eastern business of the former M Communications.

On lobbying, College Hill: "By advising clients of political and regulatory changes that will impact their business and when, with whom and how to engage on policy issues, College Public Policy consultants help their clients' bottom lines to grow and prosper."

People

Lobbyists

• Warwick Smith, College Hill's lead lobbyist, head of its Public Policy division. Prior to joining College Hill, he was Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Citigate Public Affairs. Before joining the public affairs industry, Smith was in government service for 16 years as a policy adviser, ministerial aide, and international negotiator. He was Chairman of the Association of Professional Political Consultants in the UK and is a past member of the Policy Committee of the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
• Alex Sandberg, Chairman and founder. Board member of the Public Relations Consultants Association (PRCA).
• Robbie MacDuff
• James Nason. He joined College Hill after being Deputy Managing Director of Citigate's public affairs practice. Prior to entering the public affairs industry he worked for the Conservative Research Department.
• Chris Lowe. He set up Precise Public Affairs with Robbie MacDuff in 2002 after being Head of Public Affairs at PricewaterhouseCoopers.
• Richard Sutcliffe-Smith, Managing Partner. He has provided local government and community engagement counsel to many of the UK's leading house-builders and property development companies, together with utility companies, trade bodies, leading brand supermarkets and agencies such as Transport for London and the Homes and Communities Agency.
• Anne Schneider, Head of Practice, financial services sector. She advises, carries out in-depth research and implements lobbying campaigns for various clients in the financial services industry including cross-border financial groups as well as the European network of the World Council of Credit Unions. Prior to engaging in public affairs, Anne worked in Public Relations and Communications in various European countries.

Lobbying clients

• Financial Services Authority. Sandberg coordinated much of the financial PR industry's response to scrutiny by the Financial Services Authority in 2008. The FSA was concerned about the FSA lack of control that non-regulated bodies - PR companies, for example - had over sensitive information on public takeovers. The FSA's Ruth Gevers said: 'Our review noted there were areas of weakness in terms of confidentiality. This is not about us regulating the PR industry, it is about making a difference.' The financial PR industry has committed itself to self-regulation under a new set of 'principles of good practice'..

Health sector

• General Healthcare Group. In August 2009, BMI Healthcare, which is owned by General Healthcare Group, commissioned a ComRes poll of 150 MPs "to help better understand what MPs thought about the future of healthcare in the UK." It revealed: "Conservatives and younger MPs are more sympathetic to the role private sector companies can play in the NHS than their older, non-Tory counterparts. Given that we can expect a relatively high turnover of MPs at the next General Election – perhaps more than a third of the House – we should expect that the direction of travel for the House is towards more support for private sector involvement in the health service.”

Other health sector clients in 2010 include:

• NHS Supply Chain, a supply chain services company which in 2010 managed the procurement and delivery of over 620,000 products for more than 1000 trusts and healthcare organisations. It is operated by DHL for the NHS Business Services Authority.

Lobbying clients listed in 2011:Alliance for Beverage Cartons & the Environment (Europe) | Automoney | BACB | British Battery Manufacturers Association | British Generic Manufacturers Association | Business Stream | Cemex | Circle | Cordant Group | DHL Express | EdVenture Partners | Electrical Contractors' Association | FSA | G15 Housing Associations | Gamesa | General Healthcare Group | Hilton Worldwide | IK Investment Partners | Lloyds Banking Group | NHS Supply Chain | Octapharma | People's Health Trust | Ranbaxy | SNCF | Solar Securities | Southern Housing Group | STV | The Health Lottery | Water Industry Commission for Scotland

Lobbying clients listed in 2008:
Altala Group | Babcock & Brown | British Battery Manufacturers Association | British Generic Manufacturers Association | Financial Services Authority | Industri Kapital | Mail boxes Etc | Moody’s Investor Services | SNCF | Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP) | Trafficmaster

Contacts

The Registry Royal Mint Court London EC3N 4QN

T: +44 (0)20 7457 2020 F: +44 (0)20 7866 7900

Website: http://www.collegehill.com