BrazilGerman niche consultancy Schickler joins the Highberg Group
German consulting firm Schickler has joined the Highberg Group, in a deal that marks the Dutch consulting group’s entry in the German market.
Founded in 1982, Schickler is a niche consulting firm specialised in helping clients in the media and (digital) publishing industries with business model growth, organisation, data science and change. The award-winning firm and its around 30 employees work for clients including publishers, magazines, media groups, tv and radio stations and e-business platforms.
Joining forces with the Highberg Group, Hamburg-based Schickler now becomes part of a group with 325 consultants in the Netherlands, France, Germany, Switzerland, Austria and India.
Commenting on the deal, Rolf Dieter Lafrenz, a partner at Schickler, said: “Schickler is a well-established name in the European media and publishing world. International growth is an ambition that we wanted to embark on for some time. By joining forces with the Highberg Group, we can leverage its international network to offer our consulting and data science services beyond the German market.”
For the Highberg Group, the deal is its second in a month, hot on the heels of the acquisition of House of Performance in its home market of the Netherlands. “This is an important next step in our international ambitions,” said Han Driessen, CEO of the Highberg Group. “It provides us with a presence in the important German-speaking consulting market.”
“With its unique consultancy offerings and strong focus on the media and publishing world, Schickler also gives us groundbreaking new opportunities for our service portfolio. Working together with their team, we can provide even better support to our clients.”
The Highberg Group was launched at the start of this year, when four consulting-focused portfolio companies of German private equity house Auctus Capital Partners joined forces to launch the collective. All five consultancies continue to operate under their own brand – BlinkLane Consulting, Gladwell Academy, Verdonck, Klooster & Associates, House of Performance and Schickler – while leveraging the benefits of cooperation and scale.
