Global marketing and communications firm, Finn Partners, announced it has acquired a majority stake in CatchOn, a 30-person Hong Kong-based firm with clients in the travel and hospitality sector, as well as in wellness, food and beverage, and architecture and design.
Cathy Feliciano-Chon, founder & CEO of CatchOn, will serve as a managing partner and join the Finn Partners Asia management team led by Allan Tan and Yin Ching Yeap, who are based in Singapore. CatchOn will be known as CatchOn, a Finn Partners Company.
The addition of CatchOn’s staff in Hong Kong and Shanghai will strengthen Finn Partners capabilities in China and bring its total Asia staff strength to more than 70. It will also help grow its global Travel and Hospitality team to more than 100 professionals.
Finn Partners is one of the fastest growing independent communications firms in the world. In 2017, Finn Partners acquired Ying Communications, a B2B tech firm located in Singapore, and ABI, which has offices in Singapore and Shanghai. In 2018, the firm acquired London-based Brighter Group, a highly respected travel firm in the UK, and recently added Missy Farren Associates in New York, which has a unique focus on outdoor sports and adventure.
Peter Finn, founding partner of Finn Partners said, “The addition of CatchOn in Hong Kong and Shanghai is an important next step for us in building out our China and Asia-Pacific presence. And having strong, committed leaders like Cathy join the team is absolutely critical to our success.
“China’s travel market represents a massive opportunity. With CatchOn on board, we now have one of the world’s largest global communications teams focused on travel and hospitality, and are perfectly positioned to tap this growing market. Cathy will be working closely with our global travel practice lead, Gail Moaney, to grow our travel and hospitality clients in the Asia Pacific.”
Cathy Feliciano-Chon commented, “Joining a global network like Finn Partners gives our clients unparalleled access to a breadth of expertise and experience while blazing the trail for us beyond the sectors we currently serve. While we’ve grown exponentially in the last few years, being part of the Finn Partners’ family accelerates our growth and capabilities and I’m excited about what the future brings. At a personal level, I was drawn to Finn Partners’ ‘work hard, play nice’ principle, which reflects CatchOn’s manifesto of ‘doing great work for good people’. Our values, corporate culture and attitudes toward client service align.”
SI Partners facilitated the introduction of Finn Partners and CatchOn and advised CatchOn on the negotiations.
