FTI Consulting Inc., a Baltimore company whose myriad services range from forensic accounting to business restructuring, said yesterday that it has bought a company that battles Chinese counterfeiters.
Thompson Market Services Ltd., based in Hong Kong, is an intellectual property and "brand protection" services firm that investigates the counterfeiter supply chain - from makers to exporters to cyber-traders - and coordinates with the Chinese government on raids. It also provides market assessments and consults on brand-protection efforts.
FTI did not disclose how much it paid or other key terms of the deal.
Thompson Market Services says on its Web site that it has carried out about 2,300 counterfeit raids since it was founded in 2004. It takes credit for 130 criminal convictions of "serious infringers." The company says the global exporting of counterfeit products has become a multibillion-dollar underground industry.
The players are sophisticated, and they're mass-producing, said Mike Slattery, senior managing director of FTI's international risk and investigations subsidiary.
"You actually have groups that will in many respects assume the identity or assume the brand - set up a manufacturing plant with a brand name," he said. "It can be almost anything: It can be computer products, semiconductors, pharmaceutical products. It's a very, very serious issue in certain industries."
The acquired company is joining Slattery's group, which helps multinational companies handle risk - from corporate fraud to politics. Thompson Market Services founder Bill Thompson and his senior management signed four-year employment agreements as part of the acquisition.
Slattery said FTI wants to expand the anti-counterfeiting services outside Asia.
"Latin America is very heavy into counterfeiting, as well," he said.
FTI's stock rose 121 percent last year, the biggest increase among Maryland-based companies, because investors expect the subprime mortgage debacle will mean good things for the company's restructuring business.
jamie.smith.hopkins@baltsun.com