Grant Thornton Malta today announced the expansion of its advisory and tax practices through a merger with EMCS, an independent advisory and tax services firm.

The deal is subject to the completion of due diligence and regulatory approval procedures.

The combination of both firms' advisory and tax practices is fully aligned with Grant Thornton's brand promise to help dynamic organisations unlock their potential for growth. Grant Thornton Malta will continue to consolidate its positon as one of the major business advisory, accounting, assurance and tax firms in Malta with a team of over 90 people.

Mark Bugeja, managing partner explained, "The addition of the skills found within EMCS will lead to significant synergies for our organisation. It will enable us to expand our current advisory service offerings as one of the strongest EU and business advisory practices in Malta. Our ambition is to not only enhance our service offering in the local market but to also take a leading role within our immediate region. On the tax services front, the merger will more than double our international client base and will considerably strengthen our tax and legal technical skill set. Although the audit practice will not be directly affected, this merger will open up new opportunities for our people and will attract new clients to our already strong client portfolio."

From a client perspective, he added, "Our existing clients will now be able to tap into a wider pool of expertise and knowhow. We are convinced that the combined expertise and talent pool of Grant Thornton Malta's empowered client service teams, approachable partners and shorter decision-making chains, will provide a wider point of view and will allow us to operate in a way that matches our clients' pace. The real benefit for dynamic organisations is more meaningful and forward looking advice that can help to unlock their potential for growth."

John Farrugia, finance director at EMCS, thanked the outgoing partners at EMCS, Dr John. C. Grech for founding and developing the company and Adrian Said, for his contribution to the firm and said that this merger is an exciting new phase of development for the firm, "Joining Grant Thornton gives our clients a global connection to the international expertise provided by a 38,500 strong member firm based organisation spread across over 130 countries, focused on making a difference to clients, colleagues and the communities in which we live and work. They will now have access to audit, assurance, transaction support, business risk services and other services. This is also an excellent opportunity for our employees to form part of the Grant Thornton member firm network and gain specialised knowledge in new and exciting service lines."

He also stressed the advantages of combining the two businesses together, "The enlarged firm will make Grant Thornton Malta a stronger player in the market, with capabilities to take on a wide range of challenges. The culture, values and vision of Grant Thornton and EMCS are a close match and we are confident that together we can continue to strengthen the Grant Thornton brand and create new service offerings for the Maltese market."

Grant Thornton Malta welcomes four new partners: Geraldine Schembri, John Farrugia, Stefano Mallia and Robert Geismann.