Bain & Company kicks off 2022 with three international deals
Global strategy advisory Bain & Company has closed three transactions in first quarter of 2022. In India, Bain welcomed the full team of a boutique, and in Australia and Chile the consultancy acquired a procurement specialist and a startup.
With over 12,000 employees, Bain & Company is one of the world's leading strategic consulting firms. Alongside McKinsey & Company and Boston Consulting Group, it makes up the MBB – the three largest strategy consultancies in the world – and as such it counts a prestigious group of organisations among its clients.
As the consultancy looks to ramp up its capacity in 2022, and move into new markets, Bain has committed to a spree of bolt-ons at the start of the year.
Areté Advisors
The first of the deals took place in January, with Bain moving to add the entire team of Areté Advisors to its India practice. The move added 30 consultants to its three offices in the country.
Since its launch in 2013, Areté Advisors has become one of India’s leading homegrown boutique consultancies, providing a wide range of advisory services like corporate and business strategy, organisation structuring, and performance improvement to its clients.
According to Karan Singh, India Managing Partner at Bain, the companies realised the potential synergies of a merger after working together on previous projects.
“We are confident of the shared focus on delivering significant client impact and the cultural fit,” said Singh. “Areté Advisors is a great strategic fit as we prepare for the future and will support our plans to scale our business.”
Further reading: Bain & Company hires team of boutique consultancy Areté Advisors.
Arcblue
One month later, Bain followed this up with a second acquisition – moving for Australian procurement consultancy Arcblue. The firm has over 150 consultants across the Asia Pacific, making the deal Bain’s largest deal since 2019, when it picked up Scandinavian consultancy Qvartz.
Launched in 2013, ArcBlue specialises in all aspects of the procurement lifecycle, with experience across a wide range of industries and supply categories. The firm boasts 10 offices across Asia Pacific region, with Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Singapore its key markets.
ArcBlue will become part of Bain’s specialist procurement implementation service line and operate as an independent subsidiary under its own banner.
Hernan Saenz, leader of Bain & Company's Global Performance Improvement practice, remarked, “After successfully working with the ArcBlue team over the last two years, this acquisition cements the relationship between the two firms, leveraging our collective strengths to deliver a best-in-class procurement offering to the Asia-Pacific region.”
Further reading: Bain & Company buys Australian procurement consultancy ArcBlue.
Spike
Bain also sealed a deal for a bolt-on to its firm in Chile in February. The acquisition of Spike, an advanced analytics company in South America, is aimed at boosting plans for Bain to launch an Innovation Hub in São Paulo later in 2022.
Bain currently operates 10 innovation hubs out of its global offices, including in the US, Italy, England, Denmark, Germany, India, China, Singapore and Australia. The new Brazil offering will have about 150 consultants and specialists dedicated to its work, providing a launching pad for clients’ innovation efforts.
Founded in 2016, Spike is a provider of advanced analytics and machine learning solutions, and operates across various industries in the South American region. The acquisition sees the culmination of a partnership bringing together the best of both Bain and Spike – technical expertise combined with business acumen – to deliver tangible results to clients in the continent.
Alfredo Pinto, Bain & Company’s Office Head for South America, noted, “A strong analytical foundation is key to our consulting business, and we had already been working in partnership with Spike to strengthen that team. This acquisition will boost our expertise in innovation and our ability to deliver unsurpassed results to our clients, sustaining this superior performance going forward.”
Previous deals
In 2021, Bain & Company closed two deals, with the purchase of Tech Economy in the UK, and Pangea in Italy. The year previous, the consultancy also closed two transactions.
