Together with Waterland Private Equity, Farner Consulting intends to continue its 70-year success story as the Swiss market leader in communication consulting through international expansion. Around Farner, a leading and integrated agency group will be built through a buy-&-build strategy of targeted acquisitions. The existing group of partners around long-time CEO Roman Geiser will remain significantly involved and will drive the business forward operationally and strategically.

Farner Consulting, together with its subsidiaries Rod and DU DA, is the leading agency group for communication consulting in Switzerland. Its success is built on a combination of high specialisation and co-creation in the fields of public affairs, corporate communications, marketing communications, branding, change and commtech. Over the past 10 years, Farner has developed into a fully integrated agency group and tripled its turnover. Even during the Corona crisis, Farner was able to grow above the industry-average and made it to the top of the Leading Swiss Agencies ranking. Farner is one of the Global Top 100 Agencies (The Holmes Report) and has occupied leading positions in agency rankings for many years. Today, the group is active with around 200 employees in 6 locations in Switzerland.

Farner intends to continue to serve the most demanding clients and to advance the successful model of the partner-led, integrated communications consultancy, rolling it out internationally through selective acquisitions and further strengthening its Swiss market position. The growing need of clients for integrated communication solutions in a specialised mix of creation, behavioural design, relevant content and creativity offers excellent market opportunities.

"Waterland is close to us with their entrepreneurial mindset and an office in Zurich. They have an excellent footprint in Europe, know the communications market very well and offer great digital expertise. Waterland has also successfully accompanied impressive European growth cases in the digital agency sector," Roman Geiser explains the choice of Waterland as a growth partner.

Philippe Moser, Investment Director of Waterland in Zurich: "We were immediately impressed by the history, dynamism, positioning and quality of Farner and its teams. We are convinced that Farner's experienced management team will be able to successfully grow organically and through targeted acquisitions thanks to the clear strategic focus on integrated and digital offerings."

Dr. Gregor Hengst, Partner at Waterland Private Equity, adds: "The European communications market is more exciting than it has been for a long time. Disciplines are converging, customer needs are changing and the market is increasingly demanding integrated solutions. Farner is well positioned to actively lead the way - we have very good experience with companies managed in partnership. Our in-depth market knowledge in professional services and technology will support Farner to tap this growth potential quickly and in a focused manner.