KPMG: UK and Swiss partners vote ‘overwhelmingly’ for £3.5bn merger
Big Four firm KPMG UK and its Swiss partner have voted “overwhelmingly” in favour of merging to become a $4.4bn (£3.5bn) business.
It was revealed back in December that KPMG, currently the smallest member of the Big Four, had kicked off exploratory discussions with the partners over a plan to merge its business with KPMG Switzerland.
On Friday, the most European-focused firm of the Big Four, has had partners from both countries sign off on this merger. This move makes the new firm the second largest in the KPMG network by some distance.
In the UK, the firm has a total workforce of almost 16,000, while in Switzerland, it has over 2,600 people.
KPMG UK revenue grew by 16 per cent during the financial year ending 30 September 2022 to £2.72bn. The average payout given to KPMG’s 786 UK partners during that financial year was £757,000.
The new partnership will mark its first day on 1 October this year, with appointments to the group executive bodies to be confirmed in due course.
The merger will see KPMG establish a new limited liability partnership (LLP) bringing together the two firm’s equity partners, which will own the existing UK and Swiss firms.
Commenting on the decision, Jon Holt, chief executive and senior partner of KPMG UK said: “This marks a historic moment for both firms.”
“We will be stronger as one combined firm and together we will have the scale to significantly enhance our ability to deliver great outcomes for our clients both internationally and within our domestic markets.”
He added that “merging brings huge benefits for our clients, our people, and our partnership and means we can now grow faster, be more profitable and invest together to create new services in a sustainable way.”
While Stefan Pfister, CEO of KPMG Switzerland said: “Together we will be more agile and can bring the best of KPMG’s multidisciplinary model and sector expertise to clients nationally and internationally while at the same time maintaining our local market understanding and execution power.”