Bell’s buyout plan gets the go-ahead

Lord Bell’s £19.6 million management buyout of PR firm Bell Pottinger today got the green light as 75% of shareholders in parent company Chime Communications backed the deal — despite top investor WPP voting against.

Bell’s new firm, Bell Pottinger Private Communications, begins trading on July 1. “The next adventure begins,” said Bell, 70, who has no plans to retire. “I don’t smoke a pipe and I don’t have slippers.”