Long Term Partners joins forces with OC&C Strategy Consultants

19 July 2019 Consultancy.eu

Long Term Partners (LTP), an Italian management consulting firm founded by a group of former Bain partners, has merged into the global network of OC&C Strategy Consultants. The deal adds 12 partners and roughly 70 consultants to OC&C’s European footprint.

The integration into OC&C comes on the back of a working relationship which started two years ago between the two consultancies. In 2017, Long Term Partners became an associate partner of UK-headquartered OC&C, and as part of the affiliation the firms have collaborated on over 20 consulting engagements in Italy and beyond. 

“This working period exemplified the complementary nature of our work, approach and culture,” said James George, International Managing Partner of OC&C Strategy Consultants. Both firms focus on the higher end of the strategy, management and organisational space, and while the firms work across several industries, “we share a very strong overlap in the retail and consumer goods sectors.”

Extended offerings

Meanwhile, both consulting firms will be able to extend their offerings to clients. OC&C for instance will be able to tap into Long Term Partners’ deep relationships in the luxury sector, a sector in which the Milan-based consulting firm has an established track record. According to data from Fondazione Altagamma, Italy’s industry association for luxury goods manufacturers, the global luxury market is set to boom from today’s €276 billion to over €360 billion by 2025. Long Term Partners supports its clients with growth strategies, as well as designing and implementing change as luxury players navigate major trends such as competition from insurgent brands, changing consumer behaviour (e.g. post-ownership), e-commerce and the platformisation of sales.Long Term Partners joins forces with OC&C Strategy ConsultantsOC&C will now be able to leverage such sector expertise across its global footprint, which currently consists of integrated offices in eight markets across Europe, the US and Asia. “The experience and expertise LTP bring adds tremendous new capabilities to our network,” said George, adding, “it will enable us to better serve clients – those based in Italy with global ambitions or global clients intending to strengthen their positions in Italy.”

Vice versa, Long Term Partners will benefit from OC&C's portfolio of offerings and international network. Again taking the luxury sector as an example, one of the industry’s top trends is the rise of Chinese consumers. Fondazione Altagamma estimates that by 2025, Chinese customers will account for 45% of the global market, with half of their luxury purchases made in Mainland China. OC&C has operations in China (in Shanghai and Hong Kong) and over a decade of experience in Chinese market entry, experience which Long Term Partners will be able to bolt-on to its propositions.

Similarly, both firms will enjoy synergies in the mergers & acquisitions space. OC&C’s M&A experts conduct commercial due diligence analysis during deals, and support with broader strategic planning, an area in which Long Term Partners is also active. In the past months, the Italian firm advised Gioconda on its acquisition of Bluclad, a Prato-based supplier to clothing and luxury brands, and provided due diligence for buyer Cronos Capital Partners in its purchase of Lampa, a Bergamo-based manufacturer of accessories for the world of high fashion. 

As Marco Costaguta, a partner at Long Term Partners, put it, “Driving this merger is a desire to better serve our clients. Integrating into OC&C will take our collective ambition to deliver world-class consulting to the next level.” Other benefits he foresees include offering broader and more international opportunities to the firm’s talent base, and leveraging OC&C’s global brand towards new customers. According to research from Vault, OC&C ranks among Europe’s 20 most prestigious consulting brands. 

“Integrating into OC&C Strategy Consultants will take our ambition to deliver world-class consulting to the next level.”
– Marco Costaguta, partner at Long Term Partners
 

Costaguta was one of the firm’s founding partners back in 2012 when a group of former Bain & Company seniors – including some of Bain’s founding partners in Italy – left the ‘MBB’ strategy firm to stand on their own feet. Costaguta and Luca Bettale (both McKinsey & Company alumni as well) served Bain for over two decades in Italy together with Marco Colombo, while Alberto Regazzo and Vincenzo Santelia (also the former head of Bain’s Amsterdam office) spent over eighteen years with the firm. Other founding partners of Long Term Partners are Angelo Catapano and Francesco Tiso. 

The integration will see Long Term Partners rebrand as OC&C Italy in due course, with all partners and consultants transitioning to the global strategy consulting boutique. “We are thrilled to be taking this next step together,” concluded George. Globally, OC&C, which is headquartered in London and privately-held, now has over 70 partners and more than 550 consultants.

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