Hampel/Stefanides Buying Out Minority Shareholder Houston

Hampel/Stefanides here and its sister office in New York are gradually buying out minority shareholder Doug Houston in an effort to become an independent, full-service agency by the early 1998, according to sources. Hampel/Stefanides executives declined to comment.
Houston is the founder and former chairman of Houston Herstek Favat, Boston, which was bought earlier this month by Arnold Communications, also in Boston, for $1.8 million. He is a minority shareholder in Hampel/Stefanides New York and San Francisco, although sources said he once held a 90 percent interest in each agency.