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FGS Global
FGS Global is a strategic advisory and communications consultancy headquartered in New York City. The firm was formed in 2021 through the merger of Finsbury Glover Hering and Sard Verbinnen & Co. It is a portfolio company of KKR.
FGS Global provides services including corporate reputation management, financial communications, public affairs, crisis management, and transaction advisory.
Finsbury was founded by Roland Rudd in 1994. In 2001, the firm was sold to WPP in a deal that the Financial Times estimated earned Rudd £40 million. Rudd remained chairman of the company.
In 2011, Finsbury merged with Robinson Lerer & Montgomery of New York to form RLM Finsbury. Rudd continued as chairman and Walter G. Montgomery became chief executive officer of the enlarged firm. Montgomery retired as chief executive officer in 2014, but remained a partner in the firm. Montgomery was replaced by Michael Gross until 2017 when he transitioned to Vice-Chair and Paul Homes was announced as CEO.
In 2012, The Times reported that Alisher Usmanov, a Russian billionaire who was about to launch one of the largest stock market listings in London for his MegaFon mobile phone company, hired RLM Finsbury which "covertly cleaned up his online image and removed details of his past" before the offering. The Telegraph reported that RLM Finsbury staff anonymously "deleted details of a Soviet-era criminal conviction and freedom of speech row" and then "replaced those sections with text outlining Mr Usmanov's philanthropy and art collection." According to O'Dwyer's PR, the firm publicly apologised in The Times, giving the following statement: "This was not done in the proper manner nor was this approach authorized by Mr. Usmanov. We apologize for this and it will not happen again."
In 2014, RLM Finsbury rebranded as Finsbury to underline its global ambitions. In 2020, Finsbury developed "Finsbury's Workforce Return", a service that guided businesses in managing employees returning to the workplace after the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns.
In January 2021, Finsbury, The Glover Park Group (GPG), and Hering Schuppener completed a merger and management buy-in of 49.99%, forming Finsbury Glover Hering. At that stage, the company had 18 offices and almost 700 consultants worldwide. WPP remained a 50.01% investor. Following the merger, Rudd and Carter Eskew, founder of GPG, served as co-chairs, while Alexander Geiser, managing partner at Hering Schuppener, became CEO. As of October 2021, the business was worth $917 million.
In December 2021, Finsbury Glover Hering and Sard Verbinnen & Co. merged and rebranded as FGS Global, with Geiser appointed as CEO. The agency then had 25 offices in North America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East, and over 1,000 employees. In October 2022, FGS Global opened its eighth office in Europe. Also in 2022, the firm ranked number one in terms of the volume and the value of mergers and acquisitions deals. In January 2023, FGS Global led communication consulting in operations in Spain.
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FGS Global
FGS Global is a strategic advisory and communications consultancy headquartered in New York City. The firm was formed in 2021 through the merger of Finsbury Glover Hering and Sard Verbinnen & Co. It is a portfolio company of KKR.
FGS Global provides services including corporate reputation management, financial communications, public affairs, crisis management, and transaction advisory.
Finsbury was founded by Roland Rudd in 1994. In 2001, the firm was sold to WPP in a deal that the Financial Times estimated earned Rudd £40 million. Rudd remained chairman of the company.
In 2011, Finsbury merged with Robinson Lerer & Montgomery of New York to form RLM Finsbury. Rudd continued as chairman and Walter G. Montgomery became chief executive officer of the enlarged firm. Montgomery retired as chief executive officer in 2014, but remained a partner in the firm. Montgomery was replaced by Michael Gross until 2017 when he transitioned to Vice-Chair and Paul Homes was announced as CEO.
In 2012, The Times reported that Alisher Usmanov, a Russian billionaire who was about to launch one of the largest stock market listings in London for his MegaFon mobile phone company, hired RLM Finsbury which "covertly cleaned up his online image and removed details of his past" before the offering. The Telegraph reported that RLM Finsbury staff anonymously "deleted details of a Soviet-era criminal conviction and freedom of speech row" and then "replaced those sections with text outlining Mr Usmanov's philanthropy and art collection." According to O'Dwyer's PR, the firm publicly apologised in The Times, giving the following statement: "This was not done in the proper manner nor was this approach authorized by Mr. Usmanov. We apologize for this and it will not happen again."
In 2014, RLM Finsbury rebranded as Finsbury to underline its global ambitions. In 2020, Finsbury developed "Finsbury's Workforce Return", a service that guided businesses in managing employees returning to the workplace after the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns.
In January 2021, Finsbury, The Glover Park Group (GPG), and Hering Schuppener completed a merger and management buy-in of 49.99%, forming Finsbury Glover Hering. At that stage, the company had 18 offices and almost 700 consultants worldwide. WPP remained a 50.01% investor. Following the merger, Rudd and Carter Eskew, founder of GPG, served as co-chairs, while Alexander Geiser, managing partner at Hering Schuppener, became CEO. As of October 2021, the business was worth $917 million.
In December 2021, Finsbury Glover Hering and Sard Verbinnen & Co. merged and rebranded as FGS Global, with Geiser appointed as CEO. The agency then had 25 offices in North America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East, and over 1,000 employees. In October 2022, FGS Global opened its eighth office in Europe. Also in 2022, the firm ranked number one in terms of the volume and the value of mergers and acquisitions deals. In January 2023, FGS Global led communication consulting in operations in Spain.