UK SAP specialist consultancy sells majority stake to Decision

UK-headquartered SAP consultancy Copperman Consulting has been acquired by Decision for an undisclosed fee. The sell-side of the deal was advised upon by professional services mergers and acquisitions (M&A) specialist Equiteq.

Data, digital and performance Intelligence business Decision has acquired Copperman Consulting, the largest SAP BPC consultancy in Europe, by purchasing a majority stake in the firm. The transaction closed in mid-October 2018. The move forms part of Decision’s global expansion strategy, with the South Africa-headquartered group using the strong foundation provided by Copperman to establish a foothold in the UK and European markets.

Shareholders of Copperman will now convert their remaining equity into Decision equity, in order to ensure a seamless alignment across the businesses. At the same time, however, Copperman will retain its name for the medium term while both brands are leveraged to drive opportunity and market expansion. Decision CEO Nicholas Bell will join the board and work with Copperman to support and grow its SAP influence. As an SAP Gold partner, Copperman specialises in SAP BPC design, implementation, and support, primarily for UK FTSE 100 companies and several other FTSE 250 companies.

Commenting on the news, Nicholas Bell said, “Our strategy is centred on being a global leader in information-driven transformation. We knew to realize this, we needed a global scale and capability. We also wanted to provide clients with the knowledge and insights gained from different global experiences. Now, we can leverage the experience and expertise of Copperman across markets and provide our staff with a significant opportunity to travel the world and expand their skills.”

Stephen Garbett, Senior Management and Shareholder at Copperman, added, “We believe that communication and collaboration across both companies is key to our global business strategy. It means we can now deliver more for our clients using both our deep technical skills and relationship with SAP and Decision Inc.’s extensive experience and expertise driving transformation through SAP solutions.”

Specialist M&A consultancy Equiteq advised Copperman on the majority stake sale. Discussing the transaction, Gabriela Silvestris, Managing Director of M&A in Equiteq’s London office, said, “We are excited about the opportunity this brings to all parties as this will accelerate their global growth strategy. We wish the combined team great success on their future plans.”

Related: Equiteq advises on Dartmouth Partners and The NAV People transactions.