Grant Thornton expands its territorial network, opening its first office in the Canary I.....

The company lands on the islands with José Manuel Soria and the renowned local law firm Cuyás Abogados.

Grant Thornton Cuyás & Soria is the name of the new Firm that already operates with full availability.  

With a multidisciplinary and complementary portfolio, the project aims to lead the professional services market in the territory. 

From left to right: Álvaro Rodríguez, National Managing Partner of Grant Thornton Legal in Spain; José Manuel Soria, Partner of Grant Thornton Cuyás & Soria; Ramón Galcerán, President of Grant Thornton Spain and Salvador Cuyás, Founding Partner of Cuyás Abogados and Partner of Grant Thornton Cuyás & Soria.

Grant Thornton, one of the leading professional services firms in the world, Spanish-owned and part of the Grant Thornton International network, continues its commitment to growth and, following its strategic plan, announces the opening of its first office in the Canary Islands, located in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. The launching of operations in this territory is possible thanks to the recent creation of the Firm Grant Thornton Cuyás & Soria. An agreement that unites the will, business vision and strategic commitment of three partners: the national and international professional services firm Grant Thornton; the renowned local law firm Cuyás Abogados; and the specialized business consulting firm of José Manuel Soria, Sorben Partners, with a long professional career in the Canary Islands. 

The roadmap designed marks the immediate implementation of a Firm at the disposal of the canar entrepreneurs, regardless of their location, sector and specific needs. To this end, a totally multidisciplinary portfolio of services has been set up, the result of the combined strengths of the three signatory partners. Canarian companies of all types will have at their disposal a new full service Audit and Assurance Firm; comprehensive legal advice in Tax, Commercial, Administrative-Public and Labor Law; Financial and Forensic Advice; Business Support and Public Sector; M&A, Recovery Plans; Business Consulting, Strategy, Innovation and Technology, especially in the áreas of finance, tourism, maritime, energy, as well as logistics and industrial fields, among others.

The spirit in which Grant Thornton Cuyás & Soria was born allows it to create opportunities within the current business recovery scenario and to configure itself as a Firm of reference and permanent projection that accompanies any need of the Canary Islands companies in the future. Its corporate structure is a clear picture of the business model it wants to apply: a Firm that condenses the deep market knowledge of Cuyás Abogados and José Manuel Soria, extensible to companies, sectors and the unique characteristics of the islands economy, with the impulse of a leading national and international professional services organization such as Grant Thornton, whose main attributes are maximum customer proximity, quality and innovation. 

It is not, therefore, a newly created Firm that arrives without knowing the territory. It is, from the beginning, a Canarian Firm, identified with the economic, fiscal and geographical specificity of the islands, whose Managing Partners are well acquainted with the island´s idiosyncrasy, as well as with the functioning of the Canarian business and the dynamism of the main sectors that make up the bulk of the business structure of the Islands.

In particular, the founder of Cuyás Abogados, Salvador Cuyás, and his main partners and sons, Salvador Cuyás Morales and Jaime Cuyás Morales, treasure the experience of a law firm created more than 30 years ago, which has achieved a solid position in all the islands, thanks to a service that combines professionalism, rigor, tradition and a modern vocation; that nonconformism makes them take, without a doubt, this important step in their development as a Firm. For his part, José Manuel Soria, with extensive experience in both the public and private sectors, is well acquainted with the Canarian economy and business, as well as its needs.

After more than five years away from any political responsibility, José Manuel Soria has been Senior Advisor of Grant Thornton since 2019, developing an intense professional activity of consulting for companies of diverse nature. Therefore, Grant Thornton Cuyás & Soria arises from the complementarity of visions and services, the market opportunity and the good working harmony between all the Partners of the project. 

Main business synergies

The synergies of Grant Thornton Cuyás & Soria position this project in an outstanding market position in relation to three main axes. Firstly, the reactivation of the Canary Islands economy in general, and the tourism sector in particular, allow the new Firm to provide comprehensive support to companies in diverse areas ranging from restructuring to consulting, expansion, refinancing, auditing or labor; secondly, the expansion of knowledge and maximization of the use of the tools that the economic and fiscal regime of the Islands makes available to the company, particularly with regard to the use of incentives for investment and employment creation in its different modalities.

In fact, the intention of Grant Thornton Cuyás & Soria is that the Canary Islands Special Zone will be used more intensively by Canarian companies, from the rest of Spain and from all over Europe, as an instrument for generating investment, exports and employment, in all sectors and especially in those related to the digitalization of the economy. Last but not least, the Firm will work in advising large business groups in the Canary Islands regarding their investment processes, in their recovery plans, in administrative and public procurement matters, in Banking, Commercial and Labor Law.

Ramón Galcerán, President of Grant Thornton in Spain: "we had been wanting to open a market in the Canary Islands for a long time and we didn´t want to do it alone, but with partners who knew the terrain well and who fit in with the philosophy and values of our Firm. The new partnership is the logical step of an extensive previous collaboration, with great quality, and therefore begins to work with all the guarantees to consolidate itself as an important and solid alternative option of integral advice for all the Canarian business community". 

José Manuel Soria, Partner of Grant Thornton Cuyás & Soria: "we have been working for more than two years with Grant Thornton throughout Spain and in all its lines of business, through consulting and advisory work that helps them to make their way in the islands. This new and important step marks a milestone in the development of our joint work, with a single beneficiary, which is the Canary Islands business market". 

Salvador Cuyás, Founding Partner of Cuyás Abogados and Partner of Grant Thornton Cuyás & Soria explains that "we wanted to broaden the scope and structure of our Firm, in order to achieve a comprehensive service to our customers in all areas of law. The agreement with Grant Thornton and José Manuel Soria allows us to achieve this goal and also to go further and offer all the services of a leading international law firm".

Álvaro Rodríguez, National Managing Partner of Grant Thornton’s Legal Department in Spain and promoter of the main conversations of the new agreement: "it is a pleasure to be able to take this step with a related firm such as our friends of Cuyás Abogados, with whom we have collaborated intensely, showing us an excellent professionalism and human quality, fundamental for any alliance with our Firm. The much desired extension of Grant Thornton in the Canary Islands based on legal advice and the pleasant knowledge of the Partners who accompany us in this new venture allows us to be very optimistic; I am convinced that the project will have a strong development in the coming months".

Grant Thornton Cuyás & Soria's structure and spirit of action 

Grant Thornton, Cuyás Abogados and José Manuel Soria will take advantage of their respective strengths and professional skills to access a new range of jobs and customers, thanks to their proven track records. José Manuel Soria has been developing with Grant Thornton a professional activity as a Senior Advisor, with the aim of locating and developing new business and markets for the Firm. 

The three Partners have decided to give legal form to their different collaborations with the launch of this new Firm, convinced of the opportunity that their union represents at this moment, the synergies that can be obtained and the business objectives that can be achieved in a reasonable period of time that, separately, would be difficult to achieve in terms of time and profitability. 

The complementarity of the project is based on the prestige of the three parties in the Canary Islands; their local, national and international presence; and a rich network of contacts that complement each other. The right combination of the resources of the founding partners allows Grant Thornton Cuyás & Soria to have an immediate operative capacity for customers and projects of all types, sizes and sectors. 

This is, in essebce, a project born with the real intention of becoming a leading professional services firm in the Canary Islands, capable of attracting the best professionals and the most dynamic Canarian customers. The new Firm will be located in the central square of Santa Isabel 1, very close to the Courts of the capital.