Teneo

Teneo was founded in June 2011 in New York by three partners, Declan Kelly, Douglas Band, and Paul Keary.[2][8][9] Kelly co-founded Teneo in New York with his long-term colleagues Douglas Band and Paul Keary. Kelly took on the roles of chairman and co-CEO, Band became president,[10] and Keary took on the role of chief operating officer.[2][8] Teneo announced it would be "an investment bank and an international c-suite consulting business."[11] Fortune would later describe Teneo as founded to "provide a blend of six strategic services to corporate leaders, from management consulting and corporate restructuring to business intelligence and strategic communications".[12] Some of Teneo's monthly retainer fees were reported to be at least $250,000[13]

Tony Blair and Bill Clinton were both announced[11] as members of Teneo's advisory board with Clinton later becoming a client and paid advisor to Teneo and its founders.[10][14] Clinton was paid $2.5 million per year in the role.[15] Clinton departed from the role in March 2012, reportedly after an article in the New York Post suggested he was angry over the failure of MF Global, one of Teneo's earliest clients, which had gone bankrupt due to bad European investments.[13]

Teneo was headquartered first in New York's Citigroup Center building[16] and later nearby at 280 Park Avenue, with satellite offices in Washington, D.C., London, and Toronto.[2][17]

By the summer of 2012 the firm's clients included Dow Chemical, Coca-Cola, UBS Americas, and Standard Chartered.[13] By 2013 firm's leveraging of its relationship with the Clinton family had become a point of controversy for the press[18][14] as well as some Republican party politicians.[19][20][21]

New York private equity firm BC Partners made a minority investment in Teneo in December 2014.[22][23] Thereafter, Teneo grew from operating 6 divisions[24] to 12 divisions, including an executive recruitment operation and a corporate governance arm, through business acquisitions and recruiting."[22]

Charles Watson was named the chairman of Teneo International in January 2015, with oversight of Teneo's non-US operations.[25] FIFA became a client in July 2015,[26] and also around that time Teneo advised Willis Group Holdings on its merger with the consulting firm Towers Watson, a deal valued at $18 billion.[27] In the first six months of 2015, Teneo advised clients on "communications and investor relations for 10 different M&A deals worth a total of over $60 billion."[27] On July 9, 2015, Teneo acquired the London-based communications agencies Blue Rubicon and Stockwell, effectively doubling in size.[25][27][26] Subsequently, on October 26, 2015, Teneo acquired Pendomer Communications in London.[28] The acquisition[29] doubled Teneo's employee count to about 500[26] and brought the headcount at Teneo's London office to 200.[28]

Teneo expanded its operations in Canada in 2016.[30] That spring, Teneo announced that Twelve Rolling Capital would join the Teneo Capital investment banking platform.[31] Teneo acquired the Irish PR firm PSG Communications in July 2016.[32] PSG at the time had clients such as AIG.[32] Teneo was also advising FIFA on its reorganisation, and was "working on Los Angeles’s bid to host the 2024 Summer Olympics."[32] That month, Teneo considered an initial public offering for 2017 with a projected valuation of up to $1 billion.[33] At the time, Teneo had roughly 500 clients.[33] Teneo combined its two Irish businesses in March 2017.[34]

In 2016, Teneo was hired by McDonald's in an effort to combat Fight for $15, a campaign to raise the minimum wage.[7][35] It also assisted in crafting the Boston bid for the 2024 Summer Olympics.[7] Its retainer fees had risen to a reported range of $150,000 to $1,000,000 per month.[7]

In November 2018, Teneo became the primary sponsor of Tipperary GAA.[36][37] In March 2019 Teneo acquired Quay Advisers, a communications consultancy in Australia.[38] In May 2019 Teneo staff in London experienced disciplinary action from UK CEO Gordon Tempest-Hay for poor office behaviour in an email later shared with the UK press.[39] Teneo was involved in private arbitration in June 2019 over its involvement in the bidding process for the oil company Anadarko, with Teneo refuting allegations that it had violated conflict of interest provisions when working for two of the bidding companies.[40] In the summer of 2019, Teneo agreed to sell a majority stake to CVC Capital Partners in a deal that valued Teneo at around $700 million.[3] Teneo was contracted in July 2019 to represent the planned Saudi Arabian city of NEOM. Doug Band also registered with the United States Department of Justice as a foreign agent for the first time.[41]