Dusseldorf The communications consultancy Finsbury Glover Hering (FGH) is merging with its American competitor Sard Verbinnen. The Handelsblatt found out in advance. With this, FGH further underpins its claim as a global provider for strategic communication and public affairs.
The German-Canadian Alexander Geiser, who was also the head of Hering Schuppener, will remain the global CEO of the new company. The 45-year-old virtually signed the contracts on Tuesday evening, German time. On Wednesday night, the companies officially announced the merger. The company is still based in New York.
“We are now strengthening our possibilities to support our customers worldwide as management consultancy and to use communication as a strategic management tool,” Geiser is quoted as saying in a press release.
Brigitte von Haacke will take over Geiser’s previous additional function as European head. The 50-year-old managing partner told Handelsblatt: “The merger is a big step for our company.”
The number of employees increases from 750 to 1000
With the merger, which is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter, the number of employees will grow from 750 to over 1,000, working in 25 offices in Asia, Europe, the Middle East and the United States. The combined sales would have been over $ 330 million in 2020. FGH alone had sales of around $ 220 million in 2020. The companies did not want to comment on the financial details of the merger.
With the renewed cooperation, the communication consulting market is further consolidating. This is also due to the fact that companies are increasingly tending to work with a consultancy on a global level in order to be able to speak with one voice in different countries.
Many German consulting firms have merged with large international providers in recent years. Only in this way are they able to support customers’ worldwide projects with a view to their presence, number of employees and local knowledge. This is especially true for communication consultants. Further mergers of this magnitude are not planned for FGH for the time being, according to von Haacke. “We cover the large relevant markets for our business very well.”
Communication consultancies support their clients with acquisitions, mergers or restructurings. In addition, they advise their clients in crises, reputational issues or in political communication.
With Sard Verbinnen, one of America’s largest communications specialists, FGH is merging with a company that has particular expertise in the areas of capital market communications and technology companies. Their customers include the video conferencing provider Zoom and the world’s largest technology investor Softbank.
Volkswagen, Deutsche Bank, Disney and the software group Adobe are among the most important clients of the previous construct. The consultants FGH and Sard Verbinnen have already worked together on projects, such as the Bayer takeover of the American glyphosate manufacturer Monsanto.
The new name has not yet been determined
Like Sard Verbinnen in New York, FGH works primarily in the field of capital market communication in Frankfurt. FGH’s Berlin office advises customers on tech and transformation, for example, while Sard Verbinnen is the market leader in Silicon Valley in this area. The teams complement each other well, says von Haacke.
The consultants will still work out what the new company should be called. One thing is clear: Finsbury Glover Herring should not be expanded to include a fourth part of the name. There will be a reformulation to a new and shorter brand by the end of the year. To date, both companies have kept their previous names.
Sard Verbinnen previously owned 40 percent of the US private equity firm Golden Gate Capital and Finsbury Glover Hering held a majority stake in the world’s largest advertising and media service provider, WPP. So far, he has held more than half of the shares.
Even under the new structure, WPP should still own a little over 50 percent, around five percent go to Golden Gate. The remaining 45 percent hold 300 to 400 senior partners from all four of the original companies. The fact that so many employees are involved in communications consulting is considered unique in the industry.
Brigitte von Haacke becomes head of Europe
One of the architects of the merger is the managing partner of Haacke. The journalist and economist has been working for advice for 14 years. Before that, she was a reporter for “Wirtschaftswoche” for twelve years, which, like the Handelsblatt, belongs to the Handelsblatt Media Group.
At FGH, 40 percent of senior partners are currently female. This is a good figure for the industry; according to the association, only 28 percent are women in management positions.
For the global CEO Geiser, the merger is a further step in his career: he joined Hering Schuppener in 1996 and was promoted to Managing Partner in 2013. Geiser grew up in Canada after moving from Germany, where he studied business administration and politics – and later worked for Hering Schuppener in New York and London. It will be more common in both cities after the merger. Like von Haacke, he continues to work mainly from Frankfurt.
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