EY beefs up strategy consulting with Parthenon deal
EY merges Parthenon into its business, as the Big Four continue their decade-long expansion back into consulting
A HIGH-FLYING consultancy group has been scooped up by EY, as the Big Four look to extend their consulting reach.
The Parthenon Group, which provides a range of strategic and transaction advisory services across the globe, will merge with EY and bring on board 300 professionals to the Big Four firm.
One of the top ten consultancies, it has specialisms within the global 1,000 business, private equity and education markets. The team will sit within EY’s transaction services division. It operates out of Boston, London, Mumbai, San Francisco, Shanghai and Singapore.
“Combining EY’s and Parthenon’s strengths, we will be better positioned in the marketplace to serve as strategic advisors working with companies to develop investment strategies across the capital lifecycle,” said Pip McCrostie (pictured), EY Global Vice Chair, Transaction Advisory Services.
The move was described as a “predictable response” by EY to PwC’s merger with strategy giants Booz and Deloitte’s Monitor deal, according to Fiona Czerniawska, MD of global consulting market analyst Source Information Services. However, Parthenon’s good reputation and its relative youthfulness made it an “astute” one.
“The challenge is likely to be that it’s less well known outside of the US, so EY will need to understand whether the acquisition is enough to give it credibility within the strategy space across all geographies,” Czerniawska added.
The Parthenon brand will continue to operate, under the leadership of current chairman and managing partner Bill Achtmeyer.
Parthenon, founded in 1991, advises clients capital investment timing, helping gauge the viability of strategic objectives around growth opportunities and portfolio management. Achtmeyer said: “Parthenon is dedicated to helping our clients develop winning strategies, as is EY. Together we can offer corporations, private equity firms, and not-for-profit institutions superior end-to-end consulting services from ideation to implementation.”