Grant Thornton Belgium adds specialist customs and trade compliance capability with the acquisition of Alongsight’s customs and trade compliance practice
Acquisition of leading Belgian specialist adds 15 professionals and strengthens the capacity to serve clients with customs and trade compliance expertise across the Grant Thornton Advisors multinational platform.
ANTWERP and MECHELEN, September 8, 2026 – Grant Thornton Belgium today announces the acquisition of the customs and trade compliance practice of Alongsight, one of Belgium’s leading specialists in the field. The acquisition brings a team of 15 professionals to Grant Thornton and opens the door to customs and trade compliance engagements across the Grant Thornton Advisors multinational platform, which spans more than 20 time zones.
The transaction builds on an established working relationship between Grant Thornton Belgium and the Alongsight’s customs and trade compliance team. Clients of both firms will continue to work with the specialists they know and trust, while gaining access to a broader range of expertise and services.
The acquisition comes at a time when global trade has moved to the top of the boardroom agenda. Internationally active companies are facing increasingly complex custom rules, tariff volatility, stricter sanctions enforcement and a new generation of sustainability-linked border rules. These developments are turning customs and trade compliance into a strategic issue for management teams, rather than a purely operational or legal concern.
Alongsight's specialist team addresses that shift by offering end-to-end advice and service - from tariff classification, valuation, origin, special procedures and Authorised Economic Operator (AEO) authorisations to sanctions screening, export controls, dual-use classification and licensing, internal compliance programmes, and the newest EU frameworks including Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR), and fluorinated greenhouse gas (F-gas) obligation.
The Customs & Trade Compliance practice within Grant Thornton Belgium will be led by Jochen Vankerckhoven and Kristof Van Ael.
The R&D Tax and Transfer Pricing team of Alongsight, led by Wouter Strijckers and Maxime Vermeesch, is not part of the transaction and will continue to operate independently under the Alongsight brand.
Leslie Van den Branden, CEO Grant Thornton Belgium:
"Alongsight has established itself as one of Belgium’s leading specialist customs and trade compliance consultancies, with an exceptional team of experts advising multinational companies and SMEs. This acquisition significantly strengthens our offering in Belgium and provides a great opportunity to make these capabilities available internationally."Jochen Vankerckhoven and Kristof Van Ael, Managing Partners Alongsight customs and trade compliance:
"We built our practice on one promise: no fluff, just results. Joining Grant Thornton lets us keep that promise at a completely different scale - our clients keep the same specialists they know and gain a multidisciplinary global team and a platform spanning more than 20 countries around them."
Continuity for clients
Clients will continue to work with the same specialists and points of contact without interruption of existing engagements. At the same time they will gain access to Grant Thornton's broader capabilities in Belgium - including tax, legal, accountancy, audit and advisory - and, through the Grant Thornton Advisors multinational platform, to specialist teams across the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Asia-Pacific.
About Grant Thornton Belgium
Grant Thornton Belgium is a full-service business advisor with expertise in audit, accountancy, tax and legal, and business advice in the broadest sense. The company has nearly 300 employees in our country, in 7 branches in Brussels, Flanders and Wallonia (in Antwerp, Brussels, Charleroi, Tournai, Ghent, Liège and Westerlo).
Since November 2025, Grant Thornton Belgium has been part of a multinational platform established by Grant Thornton Advisors LLC in the United States.
It is also a member of the Grant Thornton International Ltd network, providing access to member firms in more than 150 countries worldwide. More than 80,000 Grant Thornton professionals are committed to making a difference for their clients, fellow specialists, and the communities in which we live and work.
About Grant Thornton Advisors multinational platform
The Grant Thornton Advisors multinational platform is a group of firms within the Grant Thornton International Limited network* that connects priority markets and operates with aligned standards, technology and delivery expectations.
The platform is currently home to almost 20 aligned firms stretching from the Americas across Europe and the Middle East to the Asia-Pacific region. These firms bring together more than 25,000 professionals to deliver cross-border solutions powered by advanced technologies, a shared commitment to quality and a growing reputation as the industry’s employer-of-choice. The platform firms operate as separate legal entities.
*The Grant Thornton International Limited network provides access to its member firms in more than 150 global markets.
