Baringa Partners enters Australian consulting market with Sydney office
UK-headquartered management consultancy Baringa Partners has arrived Down Under, opening a new permanent office in Australia. The new Sydney locale sees the firm build on successful roll-outs in the UAE and the US.
Launched in 2000, British business and technology consultancy Baringa Partners has been going through a sustained period of growth recently, and the firm is keen to continue its expansion into the future. The firm presently boasts 500 staff and 50 partners across its four practice areas of Energy and Resources, Financial Services, Telecoms and Media and Consumer Products and Retail.
Reflecting its continuing intentions to branch into new areas, Baringa only established its Retail wing at the end of 2016, while it has also continued to work to broaden its global footprint in order to better support financial services clients looking to meet the challenges of a rapidly changing competitive and regulatory landscape. Besides operating in the UK, Baringa has further offices in Dusseldorf and Abu Dhabi, this need to grow saw the firm open the doors to a new office in New York, last year, with an initial team of 11 consultants.
Now, as the firm bids to accelerate its global growth in 2018, Baringa has become the latest of a number of consultancies to arrive in the Australian consulting market, with the opening of a new office in Sydney. The Australian management consulting market recently booked growth of over 5%, hitting a value of $4.6 billion, and with Australia’s increasing promotion of clean energy technologies, Baringa –currently rated the number one management consultancy in energy, utilities and the environment by the Financial Times – will hope the booming market will see the firm replicate its success in the UK and US.
The new Australian office, located in 41 Town Hall Square, is headed up by Peter Sherry and Brett Clark. It will build on Baringa’s international experience and its position as the largest dedicated energy consulting practice in Europe, and will bring its full advisory capability to the Australian market. Baringa will now seek to rapidly grow the headcount and revenue of the new office over the following 12 months.
Peter Sherry commented, “There’s a real opportunity in the energy industry in Australia as the country transitions towards clean energy, whilst maintaining security of supply and bringing down consumer bills. Australia is ripe for a rapid transition to renewables and storage, with access to some of the best conditions for generating wind and solar power in the world and technology costs continuing their dramatic falls.”
Sherry added, “Australia is only just beginning to realise its full potential for renewable energy and storage, from what we’ve seen in other energy markets around the world, there’s an opportunity for it to leapfrog other countries and become a world leader in clean energy, and this is something we are excited to help our clients navigate.”
Brett Clark, who will head up the retail and network side of the practice, added, “There are similarities between the way in which the Australian energy market works and other energy markets we have worked in around the world. For example, competition and smart meters are two of the key issues in the UK energy sector at the moment and the same ones are facing the Australian sector. Given our experience with energy companies in the UK there’s a real opportunity for us to share our expertise with clients in the Australian market.”
These conditions are something which Baringa’s international client base has already begun to capitalise on, in line with the client base of the global consulting industry as a whole. Over the last couple of years, this has seen a growing list of businesses – particularly renewable investors and developers – pitching up in the Australian market. In response to this, the consultants these companies often turn to for help with transformative projects have also arrived Down Under.
Recently this saw Baringa’s rival energy and business consultancy Navigant launch its own office in Sydney, along with UK consultancy Transform. Meanwhile, Grant Thornton absorbed retail and consumer consultancy GNC into its Australian network, as the firm looked to use Australia as a launch-pad into the increasingly lucrative Asia-Pacific region.
