Wilshire, the US-based consulting firm, is to boost its European presence in Amsterdam and London by the end of 2022 with significant staff hires, according to Mark Makepeace, the firm’s CEO since January this year.
Makepeace told IPE this week that Wilshire was also looking to build its presence in other European centres.
London is expected to become the biggest European hub, Makepeace said: “I would expect us to grow operations in Amsterdam and have other operations in Europe as we service the market.”
Wilshire ended its partnership structure in January this year when it was acquired by New York-based private equity investors CC Capital Management and Motive Partners.
The firm has also announced the appointment of FTSE Russell and Man Investments veteran Gary Rynhoud as head of business development for the EMEA region.
Makepeace told IPE: “This is a big first step for Wilshire as we expand into Europe, and an important one because it shows the intent and the ambition of the new investors.”
Makepeace, former CEO of FTSE Russell, told IPE this week that Wilshire would be investing areas of potential growth, including in advisory in Europe. The firm also has plans to boost its offering in analytics and benchmarking, having licenced the Financial Times brand for its existing Wilshire 5000 broad market US equity index.
Rynhoud’s appointment follows a number of senior hires from FTSE Russell, including Reza Ghassemie as chief benchmark officer and Jonathan Horton as chief strategy and integration officer. Paul Grimes joined as chief of staff from FTSE International.
Wilshire’s European presence has to-date been an Amsterdam private equity team. “We’re expanding that team; we’re selling across Europe and we’re also selling that product into the US,” Makepeace said.
Around half of Wilshire’s staff are currently based in Santa Monica with most of the rest in other US centres.
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