High-profile L.A. public relations firm Sitrick and Co. is expected to be acquired next month by consulting firm Resources Connection Inc., people familiar with the matter have told the Wall Street Journal.

Resources, based in Irvine, will make an initial payment of $43.3 million in cash and stock for Sitrick & Co. and Brincko Associates, a small restructuring firm that is included in the deal, the Journal reported late Thursday.

Founded by Mike Sitrick in the late 1980s, the p.r. firm has a 45-person staff and is best known for its damage control expertise when celebrities, companies and other controversial institutions get in trouble. Clients have included the Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles during a sexual-abuse lawsuit and Paris Hilton after she served a brief stint in jail.

The deal comes as corporate bankruptcies are rising due to the economic downturn. With the addition of the Sitrick companies, Resources will have a one-stop shop for companies in distress, providing chief restructuring officers, human resource personnel and ex-journalists turned public relations specialists. Resources employs 2,700 people.

Sitrick did not respond to e-mails for comment on the Journal’s report.