BrazilKPMG divests Dutch Crimsonwing business to Conclusion
Six years after buying Crimsonwing, KPMG has sold the largest part of its Dutch KPMG Crimsonwing business to Conclusion, a large IT services group in the country.
In 2014, KPMG acquired Crimsonwing for €26 million, in a move that at the time significantly bolstered its Microsoft Dynamics expertise. Around 350 employees in the Netherlands, United Kingdom and Malta crossed to the Big Four firm.
Fast forward seven years, and the Dutch wing of KPMG has now split its KPMG Crimsonwing practice into an advisory arm, which is remaining with the firm, and a systems integration arm, which has been carved-out and divested to Conclusion. The deal sees around 60 employees transfer to Conclusion, where they will operate under the Conclusion Microsoft Business Solutions banner.
According to a joint press release from both parties, Conclusion will offer the transferring unit “continuity and a great home to advance their system integration capabilities.”
Jan-Douwe Jilderda, Director of Conclusion Microsoft Business Solutions said: “The Conclusion ecosystem is a wonderful home for our people, providing us with many new development opportunities. In addition, this acquisition backs our strategy, aimed at becoming more relevant to our clients and being able to offer a wider spectrum of Microsoft services.”
The CEO of Conclusion, Engbert Verkoren, added: “We are delighted to add a great company like Conclusion Microsoft Business Solutions to our ecosystem. The Microsoft Dynamics competency was the missing piece in the puzzle of our Microsoft portfolio. Conclusion Microsoft Business Solutions fits in perfectly with our current Microsoft-based services, including IT infrastructure, application management and data analytics.”
As part of the integration, the sixty transferring colleagues of Conclusion Microsoft Business Solutions will relocate from KPMG’s offices to Conclusion’s main office in Utrecht.
The dealmakers
The acquisition was led by an-house deal team from KPMG consisting of Mark Zuidema, Tijn Bastiaans, Tom Heeffer, Caroline Teer, Mücahid Çolak, Ewald van Hamersveld, Wouter Moet, Gino Aalbrecht and Onno Blankestijn. Conclusion’s deal team was led by Bas van Berkum and Milou Saraber. Legal expertise was sourced externally, from DLA Piper and Vriman M&A Lawyers.
The KPMG Crimsonwing businesses outside of the Netherlands (which dropped the ‘Crimsonwing’ brand in 2019 and now operate as KPMG Microsoft Business Solutions) are not part of the transaction. For Conclusion the deal is its third acquisition in 2021. In the summer the group also divested a business.
