GIA Group expands through mergers in Central Europe and Asia-Pacific

In October, GIA Group announced that it will merge with partner firms in China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Germany and Netherlands, thus getting 11 own offices across three continents and greater access to expertise in strategic analysis and industry verticals.

The merger is driven by GIA's clients' needs for:

• Access to efficient research and in-depth intelligence across the globe
• Specialists with local market and industry expertise who understand their clients' businesses
• A single partner to provide the full range of customized Market Intelligence and related consulting services

Markko Vaarnas, CEO of GIA Group says: “Listening to our customers, we have learned that they would like to work with an increasingly integrated GIA. These mergers and the resulting operational harmonization respond to that request by facilitating even better customer service. GIA Group as a company has been planning to establish its own presence both in Asia and in Continental Europe for some time. As a result of the mergers, we now have five more offices in international business hubs where we will be close to our customers.”

Pete Read, Director of Fusion Consulting in Singapore said, “The Market Intelligence landscape is at a stage where going global makes perfect sense. Not only are major companies in Europe and North America increasingly looking to Asia for continued business growth, but Chinese and other Asian companies are now exploring worldwide opportunities, and more multinationals are relocating key global functions to Asian hubs such as Shanghai, Hong Kong and Singapore.”

Carsten Gayer, Managing Director of Gayer Consulting said: “As a key message to our valued local customers we are proud to combine our proven local expertise in terms of sources, methodologies and markets with the high end structures and processes of an expanding and truly global company. The vast opportunities arising from the merger will definitely have tremendous advantages for our customers in Germany.”

Philippe Brandts, Managing Director of DeskResearch Nederland, said: “Our company has successfully operated in the field of customized Market Intelligence for ten years now. Although we have been co-operating with GIA Group since 2000, we felt an increasing need for further internationalization. This merger comes at an excellent moment, enabling us to accelerate our growth further and opening up a whole new array of possibilities for our customers in and outside of the Benelux countries."