7 Roland Berger restructuring experts off to McKinsey & Co

In Germany McKinsey & Co has attracted seven highly experienced restructuring experts from their former rival company Roland Berger Strategy Consultants. The cause for this mini carve-out: McKinsey announced the restructuring service as a strategic growth-stimulator. This act deserves no bouquets though, for the reason that, according to the German Manager Magazin, only after a legal struggle could this ‘hijacking’ be finalized; the German platform.

For Roland Berger restructuring is one of its key competency’s and is an area where – especially in its home market Germany – it has been able to outperform competitors McKinsey, BCG and Bain. Yet, over the past year Roland Berger has had a difficult time. This can be ascribed to the strategic reorientation it went through. This period was characterized by great uncertainty within the advisory firm. For McKinsey this was the ideal moment for seizing their opportunity, according  Manager Magazine. It has convinced four partners (Max Falkenberg, Nils Kuhlwein of Rathe, Klaus Kremers and Timo Kamp) and three principals to make the controversial move from the German-based firm to its own German country corporation.

With an approximate €700 million turnover McKinsey & Company is the market leader in the German consulting market. By the beginning of this year, it is led by the newly appointed Cornelius Baur, succeeding Frank Mattern, who in turn was promoted to a prominent global role. Last year, McKinsey launched an ambitious growth plan – as for example, this year alone the company will grow with a staggering 8%. During December last year, this strategy clearly set its marks – it added 14 new partners to its team consisting of 169 partners (at McKinsey known as Directors). From a competency viewpoint, Corporate Strategy, Restructuring and It Strategy (which includes its Big Data offering) have been moved forward as the key growth areas.

Only three years ago, McKinsey launched a solid restructuring practice in Germany, and at this moment with the complementation of the seven Roland Berger experts, it has a dozen partners and many (senior) consultants specialized in this field.

Roland Berger

Despite the ‘damage’ it delivered to its direct rival, Roland Berger still can rely on the largest restructuring practice in the country. Known to be one of the core business lines within the company, it is estimated it has like 165 advisors being active in this field. Two months ago, it reorganized its Restructuring practice, combining it with its Corporate Finance offering, and struck a partnership with Karl Kraus & Partners, a boutique specialist headed by ex-Roland Berger veteran Karl Kraus.