A global industrial group facing a regulator’s revocation

The situation

In October 2026 a licensing regulator revoked two licences held by a global industrial group for autonomous systems that managed two of its facilities. It suspended three further licences and opened a review of every filing the group held. The decision was published at a time of the regulator’s choosing and in its words, and the group’s lead adviser was already handling its statements around the world.

The group’s corporate affairs function asked us to advise its North American businesses: a network services business in Toronto, and a medical systems business with customers across the United States and Canada. Neither had been named in the decision. Both had customers who read about it the next morning and wanted to know what it meant for them.

What we did

Our first recommendation was that customers should hear from the businesses before they read anything else. Letters went to every North American customer within two days of the decision, signed by the president of each business, saying what the decision covered, what it did not, and who to call.

We built a message house for North America whose roof was a single sentence about customers: that their systems and equipment were unaffected by the decision and would be maintained as before. Everything else, from the group’s position on the decision to its intention to appeal, was left to the group’s own statements, which we referred to rather than restated.

When the group lodged its appeal in November, we prepared the North American lines for it. They said what the appeal was, and what it was not: the decision remained in effect while the appeal was heard, and the businesses would cooperate with the regulator’s review of the group’s other filings.

Outcome

The engagement continues. No North American customer of either business has ended a service agreement since the decision.