Management buyout at Republica - Furrerhugi acquires stake in agency
The Bern-based communications agency Republica will once again become an independent, owner-managed agency on January 1, 2020: CEO Bala Trachsel and the management team will take over the shares currently held by Bernexpo Holding.
The Republica team at the new Matte Lab location.
As of January 1, 2020, Republica will once again be managed independently by its owner: Bala Trachsel, together with the management, will take over the shares currently held by Bernexpo Holding. Republica became part of Bernexpo Groupe at the beginning of 2016 in order to complement the then traditionally oriented trade fair business with its core competencies in strategic marketing, branding and live communication. Conversely, Republica has been able to deepen its experience in the leisure, vacation, construction, industry and education sectors in recent years.
"We benefited enormously from each other and fully achieved the objectives we set for the merger at the time," says Bala Trachsel. In the meantime, Bernexpo has been able to build up and establish the know-how that was lacking at the time internally.
Republica has a 35-strong interdisciplinary team, has just moved into new premises in the Matte Lab in Bern and, together with a collaborative network, wants to develop further as a content and campaigning agency with a high level of digital expertise. "We are not focusing on silo thinking, but on holistic consulting and cooperation," says Trachsel. Republica will be able to do this more efficiently and freely as an independent agency. "We will continue to work closely with Bernexpo in the future," says Bala Trachsel.
As part of this transaction, Furrerhugi Holding will become a new minority shareholder in Republica. The holding company is significantly influenced by the Furrerhugi agency, which specializes in public affairs, public relations and corporate communication. The two Bern-based companies Republica and Furrerhugi have been working together for many years - not least through their joint client Bernexpo, which they will continue to support in the future and for which they will launch new formats and campaigns.
Republica will thus strengthen the Comfederation brand alliance initiated by Furrerhugi on January 1, 2020, which was formed in May 2019 by the six companies Furrerhugi (Bern, Zurich, Lugano, Brussels), Crausaz stratégie et Communication (Fribourg, Lausanne), Narwal (Zug), Evenjo (Bern), Mindnow (Zurich) and Clé de Berne (Bern).
