FGS Global

UK, Belgium, France, Germany, Netherlands, Switzerland

Arguably the biggest story in the public relations world last year was WPP’s sale of its 50.5% stake in FGS Global to global investment firm KKR , in a deal that valued the corporate and financial consultancy at $1.7bn. It wasn’t just the valuation—by far the largest in the history of the PR business—that attracted attention, but the fact that at a time when traditional holding companies seem to regard their PR agencies as an afterthought, a savvy investor like KKR saw growth and potential in the sector.

That’s partly because FGS functions at the highest level of the PR business. It gains a lot of attention for its work in the high-stakes, high-margin mergers and acquisitions space—it topped mergermarket’s global ranking in terms of both value and volume of deals for 2024—but in truth the decade since UK financial specialist Finsbury, Washington, DC-based Glover Park Group and Germany’s Hering Schuppener came together to create what was then FGH, the firm has successfully positioned itself as “a consultancy built for the stakeholder economy,” meaning that it is well-quipped to handle all of the issues that keep C-suite executives awake at nights, from geopolitics and policy challenges to capital markets communications to change and employee engagement to a wide range of crisis and issues management.

In Europe, FGS has more than 300 people across its existing offices in Berlin, Brussels, Dublin, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Munich, Paris, and Zurich, with another 320-plus coming on board following the acquisition of Dutch firm Hague Corporate Affairs in October. The firm has developed a number of new products and services in 2024: there has been a significant investment in artificial intelligence to inform strategic planning and impact measurement (IQ Suite & Insights, as well as innovative tools such as AI companion Fergus) and partner Sebastian Vos, a former partner at Covington and chair of global public Policy and representative at the World Economic Forum, was brought on board in Brussels to strengthen the firm’s public affairs capabilities. Talent acquisition and retention has been one of the firm’s key differentiators—with more than 500 of its people having equity in the business.

The firm has 13 clients generating more than €1 million in fee income, with some of its most significant assignments coming from the likes of Bayer, Zalando, Schott Pharma, Ford, Continental, intel, Viessmann, Upfield, Barry Callebaut, msc, and Deutsche Bank. It worked on more than 180 deals across EMEA last year, and was number one in the value of deals worked on the continent. FGS advised on ADNOC’s acquisition of Covestro, working in Brussels to encourage adoption of new regulation: the first Foreign Direct Subsidy clearance (Emirates-based E&/PPF Telecom). Additionally, FGS Global has advised on the most and largest IPOs in Germany. It also played a key role in the 'We stand for values' campaign, which brought together 40 German-based companies to fight against populism and champion democracy.—PH