Press Release from July, 2021
The WTS Group expects a new turnover record and a clear double-digit growth rate for the past financial year 2020/21. In continuation of this success story, the company expanded its partner roster by 14 new partners on 1st July.
"Despite the ongoing very tense overall economic situation, we have not only managed to keep the WTS Group on track in the past financial year 2020/21, but will also achieve a strong increase in turnover. Once again, we expect a double-digit growth rate, bringing us much closer to our goal of doubling our group turnover by 2024," explains Fritz Esterer, CEO of the WTS Group.
"This very positive development is also reflected at partner level. As of the new financial year, we have elected 14 new partners to the partnership. This also represents a new record for us. In the process, we have strengthened ourselves with further new additions, but also promoted numerous top performers from our own ranks."
New additions in various growth fields
One of the new partners is Lars Behrendt. This Transaction and Group Tax specialist comes from KPMG, where he has held various management positions for more than 20 years - including the overall responsibility of the tax consulting business in the northern region. At the WTS Group, he will take over the management of the WTS office in Hamburg from Partner, Eva Doyé, who after more than 14 successful years with the WTS Group, will retire at the end of this calendar year. Until then, Lars Behrendt and Eva Doyé will be jointly responsible for the Hamburg office.
Matthias Schmidt and Nils Bleckmann are also new to the partnership. Both come from EY and focus on advising companies in the financial sector. Matthias Schmidt, together with his team, which has also joined WTS, primarily supports international banks on income tax issues whilst Nils Bleckmann supports financial institutions and corporates in the area of VAT.
Thomas Kupke (formerly of MSR Family Office and KPMG) was recruited for the Financial Advisory and Transactions business areas. He has an extensive track record as an advisor on well-known M&A transactions and will strengthen the newly established corporate finance team, which has been expanded by five people. In addition, the WTS Group is looking forward to prominent support from another partner with a team of several people in the area of M&A Advisory. This partner will join the firm shortly.
Moritz Pawelke is also a new FAS partner. He has already been working for the WTS Group since the end of 2020. His Digital Architects team, which consists of a total of ten people, supports tax and finance functions in their digital transformation using cloud-based technologies and innovative data value creation tools.
The Tax Digital business area was also expanded with Martin Keuschnik as a new partner. He has already been working for the company as an external consultant since 2015. His focus at the WTS Group will be, in particular, on the design and implementation of digital VAT compliance solutions.
Top performers promoted from our own ranks
The WTS Group attaches great importance to the further development and promotion of its own junior staff. "We have established numerous development programs in recent years to specifically promote our junior staff - and with success. For this round of partner selection, too, the majority of our new partners come from our own ranks. We are proud of this. They stand for our corporate success and embody the values that form the foundation of the WTS Group. I warmly congratulate the newly elected partners on their promotion," commented Jürgen Scholz, Member of the Executive Board at WTS Group.
Magdalena Blome and Carolin Kißling joined the partnership in the areas of Corporate Tax and International Tax. They have been advising clients from the business partnering environment for many years on all issues relating to national and international group tax law.
With Jana Amann, the partner level of the WTS group is now also represented by a specialist in criminal tax law. She supports clients in the prevention and crisis management of criminal tax matters. In this, she works closely with Dr. Tom Offerhaus and Prof. Dietmar Gosch.
In the Tax Digital business area, the WTS Group welcomes Christiane Belz and Ingo Soßna to the partnership. Christiane Belz focuses on the design, implementation and digitalization of tax compliance management systems. Ingo Soßna's focus includes advising on tax processes and tool solutions, particularly in the area of income taxes.
As a partner, Georg Fahrenschon will continue to drive the further development of the Family-owned Business area and establish strategically important contacts. In addition, he accompanies various internal projects for the WTS Group.
In addition, Dominik Konold and Harald von Heynitz (Partner Of Counsel) have joined the partnership in the Financial Advisory business area. Dominik Konold specializes in accounting-related valuation issues, shared-based payment and treasury accounting as well as interface issues in accounting and risk controlling. Harald von Heynitz supports the development of the new ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) Solutions service. In this context, he mainly advises on ESG reporting with regard to the EU taxonomy.
