Fairfield County Business Journal HR consulting colossus created
HR consulting colossus created
Stamford-based Towers Perrin has long employed experts in handling personnel issues that arise as a result of mergers. In the coming weeks, they will be working up scenarios regarding their own future with the firm.
In a $3.5 billion merger, Towers Perrin, Forster & Crosby Inc. is combining with the larger Watson Wyatt Worldwide Inc. to form Towers, Watson & Co., with as many as 14,000 employees.
Towers Perrin becomes the first large, locally based corporation to disclose a merger agreement into a larger entity since the Wall Street collapse last September, excluding the sale of UST Inc. to Altria Group Inc., which was struck on the eve of the meltdown.
Watson Wyatt is publicly held; Towers Perrin has a partnership structure with between 600 and 700 employee shareholders.
Watson Wyatt CEO John Haley will hold the same title at the new Towers Watson, with Towers Perrin CEO Mark Mactas president of the new company. The board will initially be evenly split with each company nominating six directors.
The companies did not immediately reveal plans for any layoffs as a result of the merger, but indicated they expect to save $80 million annually within three years. The companies aim to complete the merger in the fourth quarter.
“I wouldn’t say we have plans to restructure the business, but we certainly have always been a firm that has rigorously managed the business … with an eye on what’s best for the long-term while keeping us strong in the short-term,” Mactas said, in a conference call with analysts. “One of our mantras has always been you must keep the firm financially strong because that gives you choices going forward. So we manage the firm through tough times with that mindset and through good times with that kind of mindset. We have – we’ve done a number of contingency planning exercises not knowing what the environment was like. We’ve been able to contain costs in a number of areas; we got ahead of the curve with some of that going forward.”
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