The Canada China Business Council honours agency with Gold Award in business excellence

Hill+Knowlton Strategies Canada (H+K) is pleased to receive yet another award for its work with China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) in its $15-billion acquisition of Canada’s Nexen Inc. The Canada China Business Council (CCBC) recently recognized H+K Canada’s work with a Gold Award in the professional, scientific and technical services category at its 4^th Canada-China Business Excellence Awards in Toronto.

“We’re proud to add another award to our mantel for this project,” says Elizabeth Roscoe, senior vice-president, national practice leader and public affairs expert at H+K Ottawa. “I’m honoured to have the privilege of accepting this award on behalf of our firm, and would like to extend great appreciation to our client CNOOC; our deal partners Citigroup Global Markets, BMO Capital Markets and Stikeman Elliott; and our global network of H+K colleagues that provided valuable support from around the world. This recognition from the CCBC is further testament to the work of many in this precedent setting communications and government approval endeavour.”

This isn’t the first time H+K Canada has received prestigious recognition for its work on CNOOC’s purchase of Nexen. The team also claimed two SABRE Awards from the Holmes Report—the Excellence SABRE award in the chemicals and industrials category in May 2014; and the Global SABRE in the financial communications category in September 2014.

The unprecedented acquisition was the largest-ever successful Chinese outbound investment and the largest Canadian M+A transaction of 2012. H+K Canada led a multilingual, multi-stakeholder endeavor with the firm’s top government relations and public relations strategists from three countries. The acquisition initiated national debate on a broad series of sensitive and complex issues such as economic nationalism and foreign direct investment.

“Hill+Knowlton is an excellent example of how Canadian communications firms can increase their business with China and Chinese clients,” says Sarah Kutulakos, executive director of the CCBC.

During the awards ceremony, Sarah noted that, « the judges were extremely impressed by Hill+Knowlton’s nomination, specifically their work on the CNOOC-Nexen deal. The panel felt that Nexen was the biggest accomplishment in bilateral economic relations of the last decade. This deal took trust, excellence and knowledge. Its accomplishment is unique and it will have a major impact on Canada, according to the judges. »

The Canada-China Business Excellence Awards recognize organizations that play a leading and innovative role in growing and expanding business relationships between Canada and China. Awards in five categories were granted to 15 award finalists from seven different provinces and territories.