EUROPE – German consulting firm FERI Institutional Advisors has signed a cooperation deal with Compendeon of the Netherlands - while at the same time it has emerged that FERI managing director Hartmut Leser to leave.

FERI and Compendeon said they planned “a broad cooperative agreement”. Financial terms were not disclosed.

“The main goal is to cooperate in servicing existing and new institutional clients headquartered in either country by leveraging the expertise and resources of both partners,” a statement said.

The deal coincided with well-placed sources in Frankfurt telling IPE of Leser’s departure. He was not immediately available for comment.

Leser is a deputy to FIA chief executive Arnd Thorn, a former Allianz Global Investors executive who joined a year ago after the firm was hit by staff leaving.

One of the managers, Torsten Kopke, joined Watson Wyatt as the head of its new investment consultant practice in Frankfurt.

Thorn's appointment was part of a restructuring that bundled together its institutional consulting services to form FIA. Other managing directors of FIA include Dirk Sohnholz, Jurgen Olbermann and Min Sun.

Of the tie with the German consultant, Compendeon CEO Lou ten Cate said: “We are very pleased with this cooperation. It enables us to speed up our European ambitions and will enlarge our mutual positions.”

And FIA’s Söhnholz, MD of international development, added: “We are proud that we convinced Compendeon to cooperate with us and feel certain that this agreement will be especially beneficial to our international clients.”

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