Investor walks away from Bell Pottinger as South African race row deepens

Bell Pottinger's second-largest investor has walked away from the PR giant as the backlash over a secret campaign in South Africa aimed at stirring up racial tensions continues to grow.

Chime, co-owned by US investment firm Providence Equity Partners and Sir Martin Sorrell's WPP group, has given up trying to sell its 27 per cent holding after it was revealed the company had orchestrated a campaign to whip up anger about "white monopoly capital" and "economic apartheid" for South Africa's wealthy and controversial Gupta family.

The news comes after HSBC said it would no longer use the PR firm. Chime is the fourth company to distance itself from the agency since the scandal broke.

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On Monday, British PR trade body the Public Relations and Communications Association (PRCA), expelled Bell Pottinger from its ranks following an investigation which found its work on the campaign to be a serious breach of ethics which risked "inflaming racial discord" in South Africa.

This led to an extraordinary BBC Newsnight interview, in which co-founder and former Downing Street advisor Lord Bell said it was "almost certainly" the end for the firm.

While Bell Pottinger has a reputation for taking risks and representing controversial clients - including South African Olympic athlete Oscar Pistorious after he was charged with murder, Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko, General Pinochet of Chile and Syria's first lady Asma al-Assad - it appears the Gupta scandal is a step too far even for the ruthless and at-times morally dubious PR industry.

This has led industry insiders to echo Lord Bell's comments and claim the outlook for the firm is bleak.

Mark Borkowski, founder of Borkowski PR, told the BBC: "If you are employed to manage a reputation and your reputation is shot, then it is not a good day."

Danny Rogers, editor of PR Week, went further, claiming: "The Bell Pottinger name is now tarnished, almost to the point of destruction."