Grant Thornton Luxembourg Grows to 170 Staff with PKF Luxembourg Merger

Grant Thornton Luxembourg (Grant Thornton Lux-Audit and Grant Thornton Tax & Accounting) and PKF Luxembourg (Weber & Bontemps, ABAX Consulting, ABAX Investment Services), to join forces under the banner Grant Thornton Luxembourg.

Grant Thornton has experienced impressive growth and market penetration in Luxembourg, both in its tax and advisory business and particularly in the last 20 years in the audit business. The success of the Grant Thornton brand in Luxembourg is reflected in the sizeable increase in staff numbers which now totals more than 90 professionals. To prepare its future development, Grant Thornton Luxembourg aims to strengthen its teams and to expand its service lines to serve the local market better- widening the numerous services that it already offers to Luxembourg based subsidiaries of global players.

Weber & Bontemps, ABAX Consulting and ABAX Investment Services have been serving their Luxembourg and international clients for more than 25 years and have established themselves as a one stop shop with a fullyfledged service offering ranging from tax and audit, to corporate finance, consultancy and fund administration for alternative investment vehicles. Their reputation in the Luxembourg market is uncontested and hence, they were the ideal candidates for a merger with Grant Thornton in Luxembourg. They will leave the PKF International network in Luxembourg with their 85 plus professionals, thus refiecting the shared ambitions of the partners to remain a major player in Luxembourg amongst the accounting, tax and audit professionals. The merged firm will be in a better position to rise to the challenges of the ever increasing regulation of their core businesses, hence securing the efficient delivery of high quality services to their clients.

An instinct for growth

Grant Thornton's global tag line "An instinct for growth" refers to their focus on unlocking their clients' potential for growth , but in this particular case it also applies to the merger of the two Luxembourg firms. Totalling more than 170 professionals after the merger, Grant Thornton Luxembourg will be in line with the global ranking of Grant Thornton, the world's sixth largest organisation of independent assurance, tax and advisory firms delivering consultancy services to the financial sector as well and helping dynamic organisations to unlock their potential for growth. Grant Thornton, with more than 35,000 people in more than 120 countries, was awarded "Network of the year 2013" by the International Accounting Bulletin.

The best of both worlds

The need for an efficient worldwide international network and state of the art tools in a fast evolving regulatory environment on the one hand, combined with high calibre local professional expertise on the other, positions Grant Thornton Luxembourg as a true alternative to the other integrated global networks. Independence is the keyword for allowing bespoke service solutions to both local and global clients. Grant Thornton Luxembourg will be headed by 9 partners: Jean-Michel Hamelle, Thierry Remacle, Alain Tircher, Remain Bontemps, Carlo Reding, Marco Claude, Charles Emond, Ronald Weber and Ralph Bourgnon.