BrazilDeals: Arthur D. Little, AlixPartners, EY-Parthenon and FTI Consulting
Four of the management consulting industry's leading players have in recent weeks closed deals – a roundup.
Global
The largest of the four deals was closed by FTI Consulting, a consulting firm with more than 5.000 consultants and staff worldwide. The US-listed firm acquired Delta Partners, a leading telecom, media & technology focused consulting and investment banking firm with offices in Dubai, New York, Singapore, Barcelona, Johannesburg, San Francisco and Sydney.
Around 150 consultants, including 21 senior managing directors (senior partners), have joined FTI Consulting’s ranks, with a small part of Delta Partners’ assets remaining independent.
“We are delighted to welcome this group of outstanding professionals,” said Steven Gunby, President and Chief Executive Officer of FTI Consulting on the deal, which comes one year after the firm ramped up its presence in Germany with the bolt-on of Andersch.
For more information: FTI Consulting buys TMT strategy consulting firm Delta Partners.
An open consulting model
In a departure from ‘traditional’ mergers & acquisitions in consulting, which sees one consulting firm buy another one, Arthur D. Little has closed two deals to help it move into the market for on demand consultants. In the US, the world’s oldest consultancy has purchased Cutter Consortium, a talent platform with around 150 experts focused on digital transformation capabilities.
In France, Arthur D. Little has bought Presans, with over 6 million experts worldwide in its database one of the globe’s leading on demand talent platforms for the innovation landscape in mainly industrial sectors.
The move provides Arthur D. Little with access to a huge new talent pool, while being able to benefit from the agile and cost-effective perks of a flexible on demand business model.
“We believe the future is open consulting,” said García Alves, Chairman and CEO of Arthur D. Little, “and with this double acquisition we are able to expand our open consulting ecosystem and open problem solving capabilities.”
For more information: Arthur D. Little acquires on demand consulting platforms.
Australia
In Australia, one of the country leading strategy consulting firms, Port Jackson Partners, joined EY-Parthenon, the strategy consulting arm of EY formed after the Big Four firm acquired The Parthenon Group in 2014. EY-Parthenon today has around 5,000 partners and staff working from offices around the world, including three in Australia; in Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney.
A team of 13 partners and 40 consultants have joined EY-Parthenon, lifting the firm’s headcount down under to around 80. Port Jackson Partners was founded by two former consultants of McKinsey & Company in 1991, and had previously snubbed offers from two other major consulting firms. EY-Parthenon’s offer was however “too good offer to refuse” said managing partner Byron Pirola.
For more information: Port Jackson Partners joins EY's strategy consultancy EY-Parthenon.
United States
In the US, AlixPartners – a global consulting firm with offices in more than 20 cities around the world – has acquired Matrix Economics, a boutique economics consulting firm based in Boston. It marks AlixPartners’ first acquisition since it purchased the non-Asia footprint of Zolfo Cooper across two deals, first its European business in 2015, and later on its US operations in 2018.
Matrix Economics was founded in 2016 and works with corporates and governments on antitrust litigation, mergers, and regulatory proceedings. The firm has worked on several high-profile cases, including for Qualcomm versus Apple.
“Adding teams of professionals to enhance our services and bring value to our clients, is a core part of our strategy. In an environment where we anticipate an uptick in both corporate litigation and M&A activity, the proven skills of the Matrix Economics team will be in high demand,” said Simon Freakley, CEO of AlixPartners.
For more information: AlixPartners buys antitrust litigation specialist Matrix Economics.
