CLS Communication

CLS Communication is a language translation, editing and writing services company based in Switzerland. It has 19 offices on three continents, and serves the financial services, life sciences, telecommunications and legal industries.

The company employs approximately 250 in-house translators and writers and has a network of 2,400 external partners. According to its website, as of 2011 CLS Communication has more than 900 clients.

CLS Communication was created in 1997 as a spin-off from Swiss Bank Corporation (now UBS) and Zurich Financial Services. In 2002, the company in-sourced the translation teams of Swisscom and Sunrise, Switzerland's two leading telecommunications companies, and the translation unit of the Raiffeisen banking group in Switzerland, setting up offices in London and New York. it acquired London-based Richard Gray Financial Translations (RGFT) in 2004, and added offices in Paris and Madrid. Offices in Copenhagen, Frankfurt Singapore, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Beijing were added. The firm also took over the language services teams of Swiss Re, Lombard Odier, and Danske Bank.

In 2003, CLS became fully independent through a management buyout. In 2009 it gained a new majority shareholder, the Swiss-based private equity fund Zurmont Madison, through a capital increase and a partial buyout of existing shareholders. The firm then acquired the Canadian translation firm Lexi-tech International (formerly owned by J.D. Irving), and the Danish Scandinavian Translators.

In January 2013, the firm acquired technical documentation translation specialist, 4-Text GmbH, a company based in Berlin, Germany employing over 60 permanent staff and 200 freelance translators.