CHARLOTTE Street Partners, the corporate communications specialist, has hired former business journalist Robert Ballantyne as associate partner.

Mr Ballantyne was head of corporate communications at Scottish & Newcastle prior to its takeover by Heineken and Carlsberg in 2008, and held a similar role at Stagecoach.

More recently he was deputy chairman at Cardew Group, the London-based financial public relations company.

Mr Ballantyne worked in journalism for 25 years, holding senior roles on national newspapers.