CIL Management Consultants adds new office in Paris

CIL Management Consultants has continued its campaign of international expansion, with the launch of a new office in France. The London headquartered firm has rolled out a new location in Paris, where it hopes to pick up new clients across the Francophone world.

Jon Whiteman, Managing Partner at CIL, remarked, “Across all of our geographies, private equity portfolio companies are looking to drive value and growth within their businesses. And we've got a range of products outside of transactional work, which can support their growth during a private equity hold period. We need to hire really talented graduates from French colleges and universities, but also senior people from France with well-rounded experience. And we think we can do that because we've proven it in America and Germany.”

With offices in the UK, Europe and the US, CIL is a strategic consultancy that helps clients with growth and mergers & acquisitions. Since its founding in 1986, CIL has grown to a team of around 150 people – but earlier this year the firm announced it would ramp up that headcount dramatically. The firm aims to hit 500 staff around the world by 2030.

CIL’s international experience has already helped it succeed in founding other international outposts, as private equity houses are increasingly thinking globally and developing their strategies for growth on international expansion. With inflationary pressures and cost increases everywhere, services the firm offers such as pricing can help organisations decide how to optimise their pricing, which drives growth, profitability, and ultimately, value for their companies – something that Whiteman believes will boost the prospects of the Paris office quickly.  

He added, “France is a really important piece in the jigsaw puzzle of our global expansion. We’re delighted to continue our global expansion with the opening of this new office. We’ve been serving French clients and operating in the French markets for a number of years, but to better serve them and increase the client base, we've invested in full delivery teams and an office in central Paris.”

To that end, the new office will build on CIL’s position in strategy consulting, value creation and commercial due diligence. Heading the Paris operation is Nahel Rachet, who joined CIL’s London office five years ago as an Analyst, and has since built up his career within the firm to become Senior Manager and CIL France lead. Along with Rachet, a multicultural team from CIL will bring the firm’s quality of work showcased in the UK, Germany and US, alongside a non-hierarchical culture where everyone has an impact.

Speaking on the challenge ahead, Rachet noted, “The initial core team is all from CIL’s London office. We feel it's important to retain the culture, the expertise, and the quality of work that we've developed over the years. But we won't be a siloed team operating in France, we will take advantage of CIL’s global network. It’s really about having a mix of local presence in the French market but a global capability that our French clients can benefit from.”

The news follows the launch of a new pricing practice within CIL’s global network. With record levels of inflation seeing the cost of raw materials and procurement rise across the supply chain, the team will help companies to evaluate how to respond to the pressures of inflation, and is headed up by Mike Gorham.