BrazilLeading German restructuring advisory firm joins FTI Consulting
Andersch, one of Germany’s leading restructuring advisory firms has joined FTI Consulting, a global US-headquartered consultancy. The deal sees FTI bolster its German and European restructuring division with around 90 consultants.
“We look forward to welcoming the entire Andersch team to FTI Consulting,” said Steven Gunby, President and Chief Executive Officer of FTI Consulting. “Andersch’s restructuring advisory business has an impressive reputation and track record of client success.”
Founded in 2012 after a group of KPMG partners and consultants split from the Big Four firm to go independent, Andersch has since grown its stature in Germany’s restructuring and turnaround consulting market. To date, Andersch has completed over 380 engagements at clients that are facing “challenging situations or distress,” remarked Tammo Andersch, the firm’s Managing Partner. Andersch previously spent 18 years at KPMG, latterly as Head of the Restructuring arm in Germany and EMEA, before orchestrating the carve-out.
“Our clients include companies that find themselves in a strategic or financial crisis, that are seeking (re)financing support or that are confronted with strategic risks that could jeopardise their existence as a going concern,” he explained. From its offices in Frankfurt, Hamburg and Dϋsseldorf, Andersch works mainly for clients in the manufacturing, transport & logistics and retail sectors (accounting for two thirds of revenues), as well as for companies in other sectors. “Our work ranges from acute crisis management to long-term performance improvement.”
Andersch continued; “We are there for our clients when it matters,” a feat which has been underlined by a number of restructuring benchmarks in recent years. In a recent study by IfUS (the German Institute for corporate restructuring and development), which compared the client services of leading turnaround consultancies active in Germany, Andersch ranked as the country’s top provider on aspects such as implementation expertise and track record. And a few months ago, a survey of 1,400 decision-makers by Manager Magazin recognised Andersch as the country’s top restructuring consulting firm, ahead of the Big Four, international rivals such as AlixPartners, Alvarez & Marsal and Roland Berger, and local players including Ebner Stolz and Rödl & Partner.
“We are incredibly proud of the business we’ve built over the past seven years,” said Andersch, adding, “we see FTI Consulting as the ideal global partner to continue our path.”
A publicly listed firm with revenues of over $2 billion, FTI Consulting advises clients on matters including economics, management consulting, financial advisory and strategic communications. Andersch will join FTI’s Corporate Finance & Restructuring business unit, one of the larger units of the 4,700-strong company.
A presence in German-speaking region
“The addition of the Andersch team will extend FTI Consulting’s restructuring and business transformation capabilities to Germany, Switzerland and Austria,” commented Michael Eisenband, Global co-Leader of the firm’s Corporate Finance & Restructuring practice. While FTI Consulting boasts a strong global heritage in restructuring, and a large presence in larger European countries such as the UK and France, the company was majorly underrepresented in the field in the German-speaking region. The firm made no secret of its ambition to go for speed and scale by buying its way into the German market – one of the largest markets for consulting services in the world – and spent the past months actively pursuing the opportunity to attract a high-quality restructuring team.
Alongside adding functional experience and deepening its geographic reach in continental Europe, the firm according to Eisenband is “heavily focused on building and cultivating a collaborative culture that attracts and retains the best and brightest talent across the world – the addition of the Andersch team is an exemplar of our strategy taking hold.”
As part of the integration (terms of the transaction and deal-makers have not been disclosed), the newly wed companies have agreed a hybrid branding model, with Andersch now going to market under the Andersch and FTI Consulting co-brand. Tammo Andersch joins FTI Consulting as a Senior Managing Director and member of the Europe, Middle East and Africa leadership team. Other Andersch leaders Mirko Liebthal, Sebastian Philipp, Christian Säuberlich, Karsten Schulze, Ralf Winzer and Mike Zöller also join the global consultancy as Senior Managing Directors.
In 2017, FTI Consulting bought a restructuring consultancy in the US. The bolt-on of New York based CDG Group added 20 professionals to its Corporate Finance & Restructuring business unit.
