Bain & Co set to purchase Nordic management consultancy Qvartz

12 December 2019 Consultancy.asia

Global management leader Bain & Company has agreed to a purchase of Qvartz, a Scandinavian management consultancy with offices in Singapore and Manila.

Bain & Company – one the world’s largest management consultancies – is set to increase its global presence through the purchase of Scandinavian management consulting firm Quartz, with the two firms entering into exclusive talks to finalise the deal. Founded in 2002 in Denmark, Qvartz has since expanded its footprint to a leading position across the Nordic region, and in 2017 launched an office in Singapore.

With a headcount of around 450 consultants and staff, Qvartz is considered to be the third largest strategy-focused consultancy in the Nordics market, bigger than Bain and behind only Bain rivals McKinsey & Company and BCG. Alongside Singapore, the firm also has further international offices in Hamburg and New York, and added an outlet in Manila through the purchase of analytics firm BusinessMinds last year.

It’s unclear, however, if these latter offices will be included in the final deal, with those details to be finalised in the coming months. While the take-over would ease the pressures associated with international expansion for Qvartz – the firm’s Norwegian partner Gaute Andreassen admitting that it had been ‘demanding’ and drawn attention away from its core business – the focus for Bain is clearly on the $3 billion Nordic management consulting market.

Bain & Co set to purchase Nordic management consultancy Qvartz

“We aspire to become the top consultancy in the Nordics and we are now on the threshold of achieving that,” said Bain partner Dan Kuzmic, who heads up the firm’s Nordics business. “Pairing the expertise and cultures of our two firms will exponentially improve our ability to serve clients, particularly in the emerging areas of renewable energy, advanced manufacturing, consumer products and private equity.”

While citing ‘compatible cultures’ is a common refrain in most acquisitions, both firms can rightly point to a strong workplace culture, with Bain frequently topping Glassdoor’s Best Places to Work index, and Qvartz having been the top firm for culture on Vault’s European ranking for the past five years – eclipsed only by Bain itself on the latest list. Qvartz also makes the top ten for strategy consulting European-wide.

“We have excelled in the Scandinavian market – in a relatively short period of time – by helping our clients solve their most complex strategic challenges in a way that delivers maximum impact,” commented Qvartz co-founder and managing partner Hans Henrik Beck. “Bain’s approach to strategic advisory services closely mirrors our own and together, we will help clients across the region realise their full potential.”

According to reports, the in-principle agreement would see the current Qvartz’ partnership join Bain’s ranks of close to 1,000 partners worldwide. The Qvartz team should feel relatively at home though, with some 70 percent of its partners having an MBB background. Engagement Partner Amanda Chin, who established the firm’s Singapore branch in 2017, was previously with Sydney-based firm Pacific Strategy Partners, but left shortly after its purchase by Deloitte.