Wavestone has acquired Coeus Consulting, an award-winning London based management consulting firm specialised in IT advisory services.
The deal will see a team of around 45 consultants and staff (and a network of associates) join Wavestone in the UK. A small Coeus Consulting team in Germany will also join the French-origin international consultancy (4,000 employees).
The deal comes a month after Wavestone’s acquisition of PEN Partnership (100 consultants), and together the three firms have the ambition to “build a leading player in the UK consulting market”, said Reza Maghsoudnia, Strategic Development Director of Wavestone.
Originally founded as Solucom, Wavestone entered the UK in 2015 when it purchased Hudson & Yorke. Since, Wavestone’s British division added parts of Kurt Salmon’s business and bolted-on Xceed Group. With the latest two acquisitions, the UK practice is now the firm’s second largest behind home market France. Globally, the consultancy has 15 offices in 9 countries.
“The merger of the three teams immediately and significantly widens the playing field of Wavestone in the United Kingdom and creates new development opportunities,” said Maghsoudnia.
Coeus Consulting brings expertise in CIO advisory (mainly IT strategy and IT sourcing) and complex IT project delivery to Wavestone. The firm enjoys a strong presence in the energy, utilities, manufacturing and retail sectors.
Ben Barry, James Cockroft and Rob Walker, Directors and Co-Founders of Coeus Consulting, said: “Wavestone and Coeus Consulting’s combination perfectly addresses the CIO agenda. We both have a complementary value proposition and client portfolio, as well as close corporate values.”
PEN Partnership meanwhile has a track record in management consultancy, focusing on customer experience, operational excellence and change delivery service. The firm is particularly active in the financial services and life science industries.
“We are very enthusiastic to have Coeus Consulting join our project. It strengthens and expands the expertise of our UK practice, particularly in the technology area, one of the most important levers for our financial services and life science clients to develop new services and offers as well as enhance their business and operational performance,” said Chris Gibson, CEO of PEN Partnership.
Wavestone is purchasing Coeus Consulting for £17.5 million, financed by the firm’s own funds (notably, Coeus Consulting’s profitability is “significantly higher” than Wavestone’s). The total consideration could grow to £21 million if Coeus Consulting hits a number of financial targets.
