User:Charlotte at FGS/FGS Global update

FGS Global is a public relations company based in London and New York that specializes in financial services clients. It is a subsidiary of British advertising and media conglomerate WPP plc.

History
Finsbury was founded as Finsbury 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 2006, Finsbury opened a US office and appointed Andrew Merrill as US chief executive.

In 2007, Canadian publisher Thomson used Finsbury to complete their merger with Reuters, to create the company, Thomson-Reuters.

In 2011, Finsbury merged with Robinson Lerer & Montgomery of New York. 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 remains a partner in the firm.

In 2012, various publications reported on RLM’s involvement in editing the Wikipedia page of Alisher Usmanov, and the firm publicly apologized in The Times.

In 2014, RLM Finsbury rebranded as just Finsbury which the firm felt would underline its global ambitions.

In June 2020, Finsbury developed “Finsbury’s Workforce Return,” a service that guided businesses in managing employees returning to the work place after the Covid-19 lockdowns.

In January 2021, Finsbury, The Glover Park Group (GPG), and Hering Schuppener completed their merger and management buy-in of 49.99%. The company became known as Finsbury Glover Herring. At that stage, the company had 18 offices and almost 700 consultants worldwide. WPP remained a 50.01% investor. Following the merger, Roland Rudd and Carter Eskew, founder of GPG, served as co-chairs of the new firm, and Alexander Geiser, Managing Partner at Hering Schuppener, served as CEO. As of October 2021, the business was worth $917 million.

In December 2021, Finsbury Glover Hering and Sand Verbinnen & Co. merged and rebranded as FGS Global. Alexander Geiser was appointed as CEO. At the time of the merger, the agency had 25 offices in North America, Europe, the United Kingdom, Asia, and the Middle East, and over 1,000 employees.

In October 2022, FGS Global opened its 8th 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.

Shareholders
As of 2023, WPP owned 57.4% of FSG Global. Golden Gate Capital owned 40% of Sand Verbidden & Co., and holds a small stake FSG Global following the merger. About 40% of the company’s employees are shareholders, of which 25.9% were FGH employees.