Purchase Creates Giant Pr Operation

Omnicom Group Inc. of New York announced Wednesday it is buying Fleishman-Hillard Inc. to create the world’s largest public relations firm.

Plans call for Omnicom, one of the world’s largest communications companies, to form a new group based in St. Louis. It will include Fleishman-Hillard and Porter Novelli International, one of the two public relations firms Omnicom currently owns.

The combination would create the world’s largest public relations operation with combined annual sales of about $300 million.