Warth & Klein Grant Thornton AG now offers competition services
The audit firm Warth & Klein Grant Thornton AG is expanding its service portfolio with "Trustee & Competition Services".
The Trustee & Competition Services are focused on the monitoring trustee for the European Commission and other national competition authorities as well as on providing competitive and economical analysis in competition proceedings (merger control, aid, market abuse as well as antitrust proceedings). The recent past has shown that the European Commission and the national competition authorities have strongly increased their demands for the independence of the monitoring trustee. This independency is generally being valued based on existing business relationships between the parties involved in the competition proceedings and the trustee candidates. This has led to the fact that it has become increasingly difficult for the Big Four audit firms to perform the role of an independent trustee. In principle, Warth & Klein Grant Thornton faces less conflicts of interests and relies on the opportunity to expand this business field with experienced people. In Great Britain, Grant Thornton has already a Trustee & Competition Services Team that is acting very successfully in the market and – if nothing else – showing a very positive development by this aspect.
Rounding-off of the product portfolio, the team offers economical analysis that is required in the competition proceedings or that is applied to cover legal arguments. The competition authorities allow economical arguments in their proceedings. This includes for example market definitions and share estimations as well as socio-economic cost-benefit analysis.
The head of the new unit – which operates at the Hamburg branch office – will be Oliver Albrecht, who has worked in similar management functions at various audit firms. Oliver Albrecht says: "It is our goal to efficiently strengthen the team and to establish a broad European initiative with our experienced colleagues at Grant Thornton in Great Britain.
"In the course of our growth strategy, we want to focus on innovative and highly specialized services that distinguish us from our competitors", says head of the Hamburg branch office, Certified Public Accountant and M&A Expert Dr. Kai Bartels.
About Warth & Klein Grant Thornton
Warth & Klein Grant Thornton offers assurance, tax, corporate and private finance advisory services. More than 750 people provide clients with high quality service at eleven locations in Germany. The firm supports dynamic medium-sized companies, ‘hidden champions’ with revenues of over 100 million euros. Warth & Klein Grant Thornton expands its market position by adding public interest entities to its steadily growing list of new clients.
Warth & Klein Grant Thornton is the German member firm of Grant Thornton International, one of the world's leading organisations of independently owned and managed accounting and consulting firms. providing assurance, tax and specialist advisory services to privately held businesses and public interest entities. The quality of the international organisation sustains and supports the work of each individual entity. Clients of member firms can access the knowledge and experience of more than 30.000 people in over 100 countries. These companies can be sure that excellent quality standards are applied consistently throughout the world.
