Amper Politziner & Mattia has merged with Goldenberg Rosenthal to create one of the largest regional firms in the Northeast.
The combined firm will be one of the top 25 firms in the country, with 84 partners, 600 employees and annual revenues of $113 million. The combined firm will go under the name of Amper Politziner Mattia.
The business combination will also allow Amper Politziner to expand from its New Jersey and New York base into the Philadelphia area. Goldenberg is headquartered in nearby Jenkintown, Pa. The combined firm will now have a total of eight offices.
"We were enjoying wonderful organic growth, but at this time we thought a new geography would be helpful to expand into new business areas," said Philip Politziner, president and CEO of Amper Politziner & Mattia.
Among the specialties his firm will be able to expand with the merger are investment banking, employee benefit plan audits, litigation support, financial services, insurance, bankruptcy and insolvency, healthcare, wealth management, Sarbanes-Oxley internal audit, international tax and accounting, and risk advisory services. The firm will also be able to expand its contacts with private equity firms, venture capital funds and angel investors.
"They're becoming more and more important to servicing existing clients and attracting new ones," said Politziner.
Goldenberg also brings in clients in areas such as automotive dealerships, real estate, construction and not-for-profit organizations. Amper has about $88 million in revenue, while Goldenberg has about $25 million. The merger will be effective July 1. "With something of this size, it takes a long time to transition and implement," said Politziner.
He and his partners saw a good cultural and geographic fit with Goldenberg Rosenthal. "Primarily we wanted to expand into the Philadelphia market," said Howard Cohen, CPA, partner in charge of Amper's Edison, N.J., office. "We felt there was a need for the kind of service we bring. Goldenberg was the premiere firm in Philadelphia. Once we got to know each other, we could see it was a good fit."
"We're combining two really great firms, and it will deepen our capabilities," said Jay Weinstein, managing partner at Goldenberg Rosenthal.
He expects the combination will help his firm expand into areas such as international tax and public company audits. He will continue to manage the firm's Jenkintown office.
Negotiations between the two firms took just about six to eight months, with the bulk of the discussions taking just six months, noted Allan Koltin, CPA, president and CEO of PDI Global, who served as an adviser on the deal. He called it the largest merger in the accounting industry in the past four years.
The firm is also reportedly in talks about expanding further in the New York City area, but Cohen said that integrating Goldenberg was the first order of business, and that process would probably take at least nine months.
