US advisory group Teneo acquires Credo Business Consulting
Credo Business Consulting, a London based management consulting firm, has been acquired by US headquartered advisory group Teneo. As part of the deal, which marks the first acquisition of Teneo's major drive aimed at specifically expanding its consultancy footprint, 60 professionals, including six partners, join the US consultancy in London and Dubai, taking its total headcount to over 670 employees.
Teneo Holdings, a global advisory firm, has acquired management consulting firm Credo Business Consulting for an undisclosed fee. The American firm is looking to increase its capabilities amid a booming US management consulting market, which saw growth of 7.7% in 2016, reaching an approximate value of $58 billion.
Founded in 1999, UK-based consultancy Credo has since carried out assignments in over 40 nations, and boasts offices in London and Dubai. The Dubai office in particular gives the firm an excellent inroad into the increasingly profitable Middle Eastern consulting market, which Deloitte, Bain & Company, Strategy& and Teneo themselves, among others, have each tried to tap into via outfits located in the largest and most populous city of the United Arab Emirates.
Credo’s reputation as a rapidly expanding management consultancy focused on corporate strategy, transaction services, commercial and operating model transformation and performance improvement has made it into an attractive prospect for acquisition. Teneo will hope to benefit long-term from the deal, making use of Credo's depth of analysis and insight. Credo has previously helped many of the world’s leading organisations and financial investors to make and implement better strategic decisions.
The team of 60 professionals will remain with Teneo after the deal, as the firm hope to leverage their expertise across multiple sectors, including all six of Credo’s current partners, who will also become part of the extended Teneo leadership team. The Credo partners were advised during the deal by Clearwater International, a business which has negotiated over 1,300 transactions worth an aggregate value of €50 billion, on matters of corporate finance. Manchester-headquartered law firm DWF meanwhile advised Credo on legal matters, and professional services and accountancy firm Kingston Smith consulted with the sellers on financial and tax issues.
Teneo Consulting itself provides a full range of management consulting services to many of the world’s largest companies and has experienced significant growth in the past year, having worked on a range of major projects. Notably this included a 2015 contract to assist football’s global governing body, FIFA, with a public image crisis, following a rash of bribery scandals at the sporting institution.
The consultancy has set its sights on growing into the business support, engineering, health, technology, and software and IT service advisory sub-markets among others, and has now completed four acquisitions to push the firm towards that end in 2017. The four deals make bring the firm’s total number of transactions to nine since its founding in 2011. The continued expansion of the US-based firm’s Consulting division has been led by Chairman Chris Wearing and President Alex Pigliucci.
“This acquisition will help further the expansion of Teneo’s global management consulting capabilities in response to client demand,” said Declan Kelly, Chairman and CEO of Teneo. “We are very pleased to welcome the Credo team to Teneo. They have a very strong reputation for delivering results for clients and will be a great addition as our business continues to grow.”
Simon Bones, Managing Partner of Credo, said in a statement that the joining of forces will create a "truly differentiated proposition" for clients and "an excellent platform for growth." He added, "This also represents a tremendously exciting moment for our staff. We are delighted to be joining forces with Teneo.”
