PRESS RELEASE – Brussels, Friday August 21st
After over five decades of steady growth, this partnership is a great opportunity for Moore Belgium to realize accelerated growth, new acquisitions and to gain a stronger position in the Belgian accounting and consulting market.
The independent accounting and consulting service provider Moore Belgium (which has a forecast of 60 million euros this year and a workforce of 475 staff members) announced last year, when it changed its name, that the rebranding would also be the start of a new growth phase for the company. Words immediately became actions with the acquisitions of LAVA, Pure Solutions and The Optimal.
For many years Moore Belgium has been a reliable player in the small and medium-sized enterprises segment, thanks to a wide range of services it offers in the fields of Accountancy, Audit, Business Analytics, Business Consulting, Corporate Finance, Interim Management and Tax & Legal Services. The company moreover characterizes itself through its entrepreneurial spirit, its personal and customer centric approach and a firm belief in growth and progress, factors that are reflected in its vision, mission and ongoing development.
Moore Belgium has been undergoing steady growth over the last decade; but now it intends to take this a step further. Bolstered by the clout that the Waterland Private Equity investment group is bringing aboard, the firm intends to assume a leading role in accelerating the consolidation of the Belgian accounting and consulting mid-market. The network, the buy & build experience and the capital injection of Waterland will help Moore Belgium to explore and exploit opportunities in the accounting and consulting market. In addition, this partnership generates greater investment opportunities in digitization, among other things, which brings benefits for current and future clients as well as for employees.
'Moore Belgium has always been an outlier in the market,' said Chairman of the Moore Belgium Board, Peter Verschelden, underscoring the strengths of the new partnership. 'Today we have come a long way since my father founded the family company, but what certainly hasn't changed is the business spirit that flows through our veins and our eagerness to get the ball rolling. We have found a sturdy and reliable partner in Waterland that is just as future and growth-oriented as we are.'
'This is a major step in the history of Moore Belgium, a new milestone and a great challenge for our group of partners, staff and customers,'Hans Cools, Moore Belgium's CEO, agreed. 'We have never concealed the fact that we aim to be the best accounting and consulting firm in Belgium, and I am very pleased that Waterland wants to be a part of this growth story. This will enable us to fulfil and strengthen our role as a trusted advisor to our customers more than ever.’
"Moore has a strong reputation based on the wide range of services and the high quality they deliver, their strong internal structure and widely supported corporate culture.” added Frank Vlayen, Group Managing Partner of Waterland. “Therefore, we are pleased to support Moore Belgium in their ambition to strengthen their leading position and to help shape the future of the accounting and consulting sector. The partnership with Moore Belgium fits perfectly into our strategy to support leading companies in their growth".
Once the Belgian Competition Authority has consented to the move, the intention is to transfer the Moore Belgium BV shares to Moore Belgium Group BV, which shall be led by a Board of Directors consisting of both Waterland representatives and Moore Belgium's current partners. The Board will be chaired by Peter Verschelden. The day-to-day management of the company will remain entirely in the hands of Moore Belgium's present Executive Committee. Waterland will have no insight into specific files nor customer data.
Both parties find each other optimally in this new structure and are looking forward to jointly taking on this challenge on the basis of successful entrepreneurship and dynamic growth ambitions. Waterland as a partner behind the scenes, Moore Belgium as the well-known trusted advisor of its customers in the market, with a strong focus on quality and personal customer relations.
For further information, a call or an interview about this new partnership, please contact one of the people below.
For Moore Belgium:
- Peter Verschelden, Chairman Board of Directors
Mail : peter.verschelden@moore.be or mobile phone: 0032 495 53 61 04
- Hans Cools, CEO
Mail : hans.cools@moore.be or mobile phone: 0032 475 83 33 82
About Moore Belgium
Moore Belgium is the largest independent accounting and consulting service provider in Belgium, with key centres in Antwerp, Brussels, Ghent and Hasselt, with offices in Shanghai as well as a range of local offices across Flanders. The company has forecast a turnover this year of €60 million and it has 475 staff members.
Moore Belgium acts as a company’s companion in supporting the growth of small and medium-sized companies by providing Accountancy, Audit, Business Analytics, Business Consulting, Corporate Finance, Interim Management and Tax & Legal Services. As a member of Moore Global - one of the largest accounting and consulting networks in the world - Moore Belgium also provides support to its clients in over a hundred countries.
Further information on Moore Belgium is available at www.moore.be.
About Waterland Private Equity
Waterland is an independent private equity investment group that supports entrepreneurs in realizing their growth ambitions. With substantial financial resources and committed industry expertise, Waterland enables its portfolio companies to achieve accelerated growth both organically and through acquisitions.
Waterland has offices in Belgium (Antwerp), the Netherlands (Bussum), UK (Manchester), Germany (Munich and Hamburg), Switzerland (Zurich), Denmark (Copenhagen), Ireland (Dublin) and Poland (Warsaw) and currently manages € 6 billion of investor commitments.
Waterland Private Equity Investments B.V. is registered as a fund manager in the register maintained by the Dutch regulator, the AFM (Autoriteit Financiële Markten).
Further information on Waterland is available at www.waterland.be.