MDS and Towers Watson Sign Joint Venture Agreement

Towers WatsonTowers Watson, a global professional services company, and Broker MDS have combined forces to establish a benefits brokerage consulting service in Portugal. The strategic alliance combines Towers Watson’s deep consulting expertise in pensions, health care and risk management with MDS’s experience as an employee benefits broker.

Published on September 19, 2012

The new joint venture between two established market leaders will aim to empower organisations with the intelligence and capabilities to respond to the rapidly evolving and complex employee benefits landscape via a joined up brokerage and consultancy service.

Frederico Jorge, Managing Consultant in Portugal at Towers Watson, said: “We are delighted to be able to offer a more comprehensive service to clients through this alliance, which combines specialist resources from both firms and significant knowledge and experience of the Portuguese market.”

Ricardo Pinto dos Santos, Board Member of MDS, said: “The partnership with Towers Watson reflects the need to be focused on providing specialist consulting services in the benefits area, especially in the current economic climate.”

The joint venture comes into effect this month and each company will provide two supervisory board members and one staff member.

About MDS

MDS was founded in Porto in 1984, originally to take care of Sonae Group’s insurance needs. It is now the leading broker in the Portuguese market with around 50,000 clients and an insurance premium income of approximately 150 million euro. MDS is rapidly emerging as a reference company in the markets where it operates by providing an integrated consulting service, which is vertical, centralized, efficient and of superior quality. It defines itself as a global company and a pioneer focused on creating value through a strong customer focused approach. MDS’ strategy is based on continuous consolidation and growth. Through BrokersLink, one of the largest international broker networks, MDS is present in more than 60 countries supported by approximately 300 offices and 6000 staff.