The top management consultancy Horn & Company and the Swiss strategy consultancy GEM are joining forces to continue their success story together. For both companies, the merger offers opportunities for additional growth in Switzerland and Germany respectively. For clients and companies in the financial industry, the result is an expanded and highly attractive portfolio of services: This is because GEM brings a high level of industry expertise in the areas of major banks, CFO agenda and transaction and transformation management and thus complements Horn & Company’s offering very well. In return, Horn & Company can support clients and companies in Switzerland with its core expertise in the retail banking and insurance market. Switzerland is also a good geographical extension – together the consulting firms cover the entire DACH region. “The positioning and expertise of our two companies complement each other perfectly and together we will be able to provide our clients with even better and more comprehensive advice in future, whether in Switzerland or in Germany and Austria. This is supported by our shared, deeply partnership-based and solution-oriented consulting and corporate philosophy,” explains Samuel Egger, one of the three founding partners of GEM.
Horn & Company entered into a partnership with the private equity fund Waterland in 2021 in order to establish an inorganic growth strategy in addition to the consulting firm’s above-average organic growth. GEM, founded in 2014, is the first consultancy to join Horn & Company in order to help shape the consulting market in this growth phase, especially in its home market of Switzerland. “We are thus creating a platform on which fast-growing and entrepreneurially like-minded medium-sized management consultancies can come together to achieve market-outperforming growth targets together,” emphasizes founding partner Christian Horn.
Both consulting firms stand for a high level of industry expertise in the financial services sector and direct performance enhancement. They work with their clients on sustainable solutions at the interface between strategy, conception and implementation. H&C has made a name for itself in the consulting market as an award-winning hidden champion in Germany, while GEM has established itself in the Swiss market. The central leitmotif for the merger is the partnership-based and entrepreneurial approach characterized by the founding partners on both sides. This is not only decisive for the culture, but also characterizes the cooperation with customers. “This merger is a perfect fit: GEM primarily stands for Switzerland, major banks, CFO agenda and transaction management – this not only completes our DACH focus, but also expands our range of services and clients to complement our existing H&C positioning. In addition, the entire GEM team is highly competent and very likeable at all levels. This is a perfect example of our self-image of “the good guys being the nice guys”. I am therefore more than happy that the merger has worked out,” says managing partner Dr. Alexander Bethke-Jaenicke, who is responsible for the banking division at Horn & Company.
For the time being, GEM will remain on the market under its own brand as part of the Horn & Company Group, with the aim of merging into one company over the coming months.