Roland Berger, founder and chairman of the German management consultancy that bears his name, expects the art market to ride out the current financial turmoil as wealthy Russians, Indians and Chinese buoy sales.

``Art has become a global market,'' Berger said in his 31st- floor Munich office, where an eagle canvas by Georg Baselitz hangs behind his desk, and a mobile by Russian artist Alexander Rodchenko dangles in a corner. ``A new tier of collectors has stabilized the market. Just because the financial markets collapse today doesn't mean art prices will drop tomorrow -- at least not for good-quality art.''

Dealers are awaiting this week's London art fairs and auction sales with concern growing that demand will fall as stocks tumble, troubled banks seek government funds and economic growth stalls.

Berger first became fascinated with art at 14, when an art teacher took his class to see a Kandinsky exhibition. ``That was the first time I saw abstract art,'' he said. ``After that I began buying things step by step, starting with graphics and gouaches.''

He started his career by borrowing 35,000 deutsche marks (the equivalent of $24,000 today) to open a laundry that funded his way through college. Berger began his private collection more than 40 years ago. He counts Baselitz among his friends, and had his portrait painted by Andy Warhol in 1980. He also set up a corporate collection that now comprises about 800 works, displayed in the company's offices worldwide.

Abstract Works

As the second-biggest management consultancy in Germany after the U.S. firm McKinsey & Co., Roland Berger Strategy Consultants has clients including Deutsche Telekom AG, Deutsche Lufthansa AG, Deutsche Bank AG, Daimler AG and Siemens AG. The walls of the Munich headquarters are adorned with mostly abstract works spanning the 1960s to today, by artists such as Rupprecht Geiger, Guenther Foerg, Markus Luepertz, Jannis Kounellis and Julian Schnabel.

``I never wanted to specialize in any particular direction, but wanted the collection to follow developments in art,'' Berger said. ``Of course I have to like it, but I also have to have the impression that the artist is original, not copying someone else's ideas. It must also be technically well produced. Last but not least, it has to say something.''

Berger regularly attends art fairs -- particularly Art Basel, Frieze in London, and the Art Forum in Berlin. ``If time allows, I also go to Arco in Madrid, because it provides a window on new South American artists,'' he said.

``I try in general to buy contemporary art from young, still- unknown artists that is relatively cheap,'' said Berger, who advised Gerhard Schroeder when he was chancellor. ``I am quite disciplined. I know what I can afford.''

Stiff Competition

Berger said competition for top-quality art is stiff, meaning prices are unlikely to fall far. That view was backed by a survey of art valuers in the U.K. last week showing that works costing more than 50,000 pounds ($85,000) were gaining in price.

Still, the study by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors found that prices of lower-value art and antiques are dropping as buyers are deterred by the credit crisis. Damien Hirst's 111.5 million-pound record auction in London last month may mark the peak of the art market for now, the RICS survey found.

Berger said he doesn't expect Hirst's sale to herald an art- market shift whereby artists would go directly to auction houses and leave out galleries.

Hirst's Test

``I don't think that many artists can or will do the same thing,'' Berger said. ``I find Damien Hirst a very creative person, but he still has to stand the test of time. I wouldn't buy a shark in formaldehyde, or a diamond skull. Perhaps a painting with dots -- when they were new I might have come to that idea.''

Art hangs on the walls of company offices in 30 countries. Berger said the firm matches the art with the region -- so Chinese art is in China, South American in South America.

He declined to disclose how much the company spends on art each year, though he said the budget is flexible. Artists whose work Berger is currently interested in include Daniel Richter, Andreas Hofer and Christopher Wool, he said.

``Baselitz's new way of painting interests me a lot,'' he said. The painting above his desk is one of his favorites, along with an Yves Klein, Kounellis's ``EZ-S'' from 1961, and a Jean- Michel Basquiat that he has at home.

Selling works is something Berger very rarely does.

``Sometimes an artwork can lose its impact on you,'' he said. ``Then the inner relationship is lost and I sell it.''