Multinational accounting and advisory firm Mazars Group has been in talks with New York-based Weiser LLP in a merger that would create the sixth largest accounting firm in the world.
The combined firms would have annual revenue of about $1.3 billion. The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of this year, according to a spokesman for Weiser.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, and the negotiations are still ongoing.
Mazars has a presence in 50 countries, but in the U.S. it has mostly relied on joint venture agreements with U.S. firms like Weiser, as well as Moss Adams and BKD. Weiser is not expected to change its name for at least two years if the deal is approved by the two firms' partners.
Weiser has 650 staff members in its six offices in New York, while Mazars has 10,000 employees across the world. Mazars has done other merger deals with U.S.-based firms abroad, including a deal with Moores Rowland in 2007 in South Africa.
Weiser has gone through other mergers of its own, most recently acquiring Fishbein & Co., a 60-person accounting firm based in Horsham, Pa., as of Jan. 1. Weiser is currently a member of the Praxity international network of accounting firms.
