Fahlgren, HMS Get It Together

HMS Partners and Fahlgren circled each other for years before finally agreeing on a proposed merger last week, executives said.

“We’ve had a number of conversations,” over six or seven years, said Steve Drongowski, CEO of Fahlgren. But it wasn’t until the middle of last year that talks between the two Columbus, Ohio-based companies got serious, Drongowski and his HMS counterpart, Rick Milenthal, said.

The executives confirmed that a letter of intent to merge Fahlgren with HMS’s advertising arm, HMS/Hallmark, has been signed, making a completed deal possible within 90 days.