The Big Four firm has bought the mid-market management consultancy practice, the latest among several recent acquisitions into the consultancy and analytics market and hotly following last month’s announcement of its acquisition of Nunwood, an independent consultancy specialising in customer experience management and feedback technology
The new arm, which will operate initially under the KPMG Boxwood brand, will be led by Boxwood’s managing director, Chris Wakerley.
All Boxwood staff will transfer to KPMG’s offices, with Chris Wakerley and Matt Clark - a director at Boxwood who lead’s consumer practice - becoming partners of the firm.
With a 10-year history, Boxwood’s business centres around senior business figures with a focus on CEOs and their teams who want ramp up profitability and drive complex transformation.
The sectors it concentrates on include retail and consumer, infrastructure, telecoms, media, technology, private equity and life sciences.
The accounting firm believes its latest acquisition will Boxwood ‘will further strengthen KPMG’s existing management consultancy offering to the UK’s middle market, at a time when the mid-tier is particularly active and companies are increasingly driving growth agendas.’
Commenting on the acquisition, Richard Fleming, head of advisory at KPMG, described the deal as ‘significant’ as the firm sought to expand and enhance the range of consultancy services it provides, particularly to middle-market companies throughout the UK.
‘Boxwood’s straightforward and hands-on approach to projects ensures that it consistently drives growth, improves profitability and unlocks value for its clients.
‘Additionally, its track-record in providing post-deal transformation advice, particularly to private equity firms and their portfolio companies, complements our existing integration advisory offering – something that is increasingly in demand as the M&A market continues to improve,’ said Fleming.
Referring to Nunwood, Fleming said it was ‘a very different organisation to Boxwood, but one which has also boosted and broadened our advisory offering.’
‘We continue to see enormous opportunity in this growing part of our business, as corporates and public sector organisations seek to unpick issues which challenge them and drive growth in a complex economic environment.’
Wakerley said that the move is tremendously exciting for Boxwood’s clients and staff.
‘KPMG’s broad capabilities, extensive experience and global reach will further enhance the value that we can deliver for our clients. This will also create fantastic career opportunities for all of our current and future employees.
‘We are very much looking forward to working with our new colleagues in KPMG and to the next stage of our development,’ said Wakerley.
