GPA expects new regional partners by ISE 2027 following Forté split

• Features

• 17/08/2026

Forté will leave GPA at the end of 2026, ending a six-year relationship and taking with it businesses currently operating as GPA RBUs in the US, Germany, Ireland and parts of Scandinavia.

Speaking to Inavate, Shanks said GPA had already received approaches from companies interested in joining the organisation following news of Forté’s departure, while GPA has also initiated conversations with potential partners.

Shanks said GPA would follow its established process for identifying and selecting new shareholder partners in the affected markets.

“We haven't commenced what we call the process in detail yet, but we've already had initial engagements and conversations with a number of interested parties who've either reached out to us, or we've reached out to them,” he said.

While the selection process takes a number of months, Shanks expects progress to be visible by the time the industry gathers in Barcelona for ISE in February.

“From my perspective, I am certainly confident that we'll be looking at an ISE where we will have some new colleagues joining us,” he said.

GPA and Forté have agreed a transition period running until December 31, with Shanks stressing that continuity for existing customers and projects would remain the immediate priority.

Shanks also shed light on how customer contracts operate within the GPA model. While master service agreements have historically been transacted through individual RBUs, GPA acts as the global account management layer coordinating delivery across the network.

He said previous RBU departures had demonstrated that the local contracting business does not necessarily take the wider customer relationship with it. Change-of-control provisions within MSAs can allow customers to reconsider those arrangements, with some global customers choosing to remain with GPA following earlier changes within the network.

“It will be a lot easier for us to replace those five countries than it is for [Forté] to replace 46,” Shanks added.

That confidence extends to the US, despite its weight within the global AV market. Shanks rejected the suggestion that losing Forté there presented a fundamentally greater challenge than replacing the company in other territories.

“I personally don't see it that way,” he said.

He argued that the way multinational AV decisions are made has changed significantly, becoming less dependent on standards dictated by a US headquarters.

While that model was common a decade ago, Shanks said global organisations increasingly make technology and procurement decisions on a regional basis. He pointed to proof-of-concept work increasingly taking place in India and Asia, as well as European companies moving procurement functions into Eastern Europe.

“There has been a changing dynamic in where those decisions are being made,” he said. “That's something that has changed materially. I would say it materially has changed in the last five or six years. But it's accelerated in the last two.”

Forté’s own international ambitions have also changed considerably over that period.

Shanks said he did not believe Forté’s expansion into markets already represented by other GPA members had itself precipitated the separation, but described the company’s decision to pursue a direct global strategy as a key point of divergence.

“Two years ago, their international strategy was GPA,” he said.

Since then, Forté has expanded internationally through investment and acquisition, and Shanks said the company had identified an opportunity created by continuing consolidation in the AV integration market.

“Forté have decided, actually, we can do this,” he said. “And that's what they've decided that they want to do.”

GPA, in contrast, will continue with its existing model of locally established and owned businesses working together to deliver multinational projects.

Shanks argued that this gives GPA a different proposition from acquisition-led global integrators, particularly in markets where local language, culture, regulation, taxation and employment requirements can make international delivery difficult.

“The GPA is chosen by customers who want a better local experience,” he said.

He added that even integrators operating under a single global brand still rely on subcontractors in markets where they do not have direct coverage, while GPA’s model is designed to retain expertise, investment and profitability within its local RBUs.

Forté’s departure will result in changes to GPA’s shareholder base, as its businesses leave and new RBUs join, but Shanks said he did not expect the separation to prompt a more fundamental change to GPA’s ownership or operating structure.

“Obviously some of the shareholding will change because the Forté elements will leave,” he said. “But then other RBUs will come in and they'll become the shareholders.”

He added: “I don't expect that there's going to be any other wider fundamental change announcements in connection with Forté's departure at all.”

Shanks also characterised the relationship with Forté as one that had benefited both organisations, arguing that GPA had helped the Forté build the international experience that has ultimately supported its decision to pursue a global strategy of its own. In return, he said Forté had contributed customers, knowledge sharing and education across the GPA network.