Deals in ANZ in March in the services sectors

2.  Accenture Acquires The Lumery to Strengthen its Marketing Transformation Services in Australia

Founded in 2017, The Lumery brings complementary martech ecosystem relationships to help clients transform through technology for scale and mass customization. It provides industry and platform consulting services, including marketing advisory and planning, implementation across entire technology stacks, operational excellence and simplification. The Lumery works with clients across consumer goods and services, financial services, public sector, retail and resources. Its team of approximately 80 people across its offices in Melbourne, Sydney and Bengaluru, India, will join Accenture Song’s Marketing practice. Accenture Song has been growing its suite of capabilities to help clients grow, innovate and sustain relevance in the past year. In Australia, The Lumery follows the recent addition of customer insights and advisory business Fiftyfive5 to bolster its data-driven marketing services.

3.  GreenCollar buys into EnergyLink Services to tackle agribusiness decarbonisation

Environmental markets project developer GreenCollar has made a strategic investment in fellow Sydney-based sustainability-focused advisory firm EnergyLink Services with a view to capitalise on the growing push to decarbonise the agribusiness sector. B Corp-certified GreenCollar, a profit-for-purpose organisation that collaborates in carbon, water quality, biodiversity and plastics markets, has taken a 30 per cent interest in EnergyLink Services following a close working relationship over many years. The Sydney-based GreenCollar, which was founded in 2011, is Australia’s largest environmental markets developer and investor. The group works with landowners and managers throughout Australia to develop projects that create commercial opportunities by generating environmental credits, while caring for the environment. GreenCollar’s management team was fundamental in helping to establish Australia’s carbon market framework, as well as Queensland’s Reef Credit program.

4.  Perseus Operating Group of Constellation Software Completes Acquisition of Auto-IT Group

Perseus Operating Group (“Perseus”) of Constellation Software Inc. (“Constellation”) announced today that it has completed the purchase of Auto-IT Pty Ltd (“Auto-IT”), a market leading dealer management system provider for franchise automotive, agriculture, trucking and construction equipment markets. The acquisition further expands the Perseus footprint in dealership software markets, having already established a strong presence in North America and the United Kingdom. Auto-IT marks Perseus’ tenth acquisition in the dealership software market, under the Constellation Dealer Group. As one of the largest DMS companies in Australasia, Auto-IT has delivered powerful systems to the market for over 40 years and works closely with all major OEMs and allied industry partners. Perseus is an operating group of Constellation Software Inc. Perseus acquires and invests in software businesses that are committed to providing long-term solutions and life-long partnerships to customers.

5.  Vistage makes key acquisition of its licensee, TEC in Australia and New Zealand to set the stage for CEO peer advisory expansion

Vistage announced it has acquired its licensee, TEC Australia and New Zealand, to build upon the growth of CEO peer advisory in the region. Since 1957, Vistage has been bringing together groups of high-performing CEOs through a proven leadership experience that delivers results both personally and professionally. When leaders come together in their confidential Vistage private advisory board meetings, they gain the perspective, clarity and support to help them become better leaders and accelerate their company’s growth. In addition, more than 45,000 Vistage members worldwide also have access to expert speakers, personalized coaching sessions, and international networking. Under the guidance of their Chair – an accomplished executive coach dedicated to helping others grow – members come together to share expertise, challenge one another to think critically and arrive at better decisions. Vistage was originally founded in the United States in 1957 under the name The Executive Committee (TEC). In 1986, Dr. Phil Meddings founded TEC Australia in Sydney. Since then, the business has grown into a community of more than 1,000 members and over 60 Chairs.

6. Findex buys Microsoft Business Applications practice from FiveP

Professional services firm Findex has landed a major boost to its digital consulting business through the acquisition of FiveP’s Microsoft Business Applications practice in Australia. Melbourne-based IT consultancy FiveP has offloaded its Microsoft Business Applications (MBA) practice to national accounting and advisory network Findex for an undisclosed sum, in a deal set to double the size of the latter’s digital consulting business over the next two years. In parallel, FiveP has also spun off its healthcare messaging solution Baret, and will now focus on its Microsoft Teams and SharePoint business while expanding into other domains. Founded a decade ago in Melbourne, FiveP will now effectively split its services and products divisions in two, with the FiveP brand to continue in delivering workplace solutions across Microsoft Teams and SharePoint while further expanding into security, identity, and Copilot AI offerings. Its healthcare messaging platform Baret meanwhile will pursue expansion into the US and wider Asia Pacific markets as a standalone business under the guidance of former FiveP CMO Matt Krosch.

7.  Global player ERM buys The Big Middle and The Big

Formed in just 2022, Adelaide-based cloud and ESG sister consultancies The Big Middle and The Big Zero have been snapped up by sustainability firm ERM. Global sustainability consultancy ERM has picked up Adelaide-based cloud specialist The Big Middle and its sister company The Big Zero, adding to its growing global portfolio. For Big Middle co-founder and CEO Andrew McAdams, it’s the second jackpot in the space of five years, after he and his partners sold their previous enterprise PrimeQ to Accenture after just three years in business, before then launching The Big Middle in 2022. As the name suggests, The Big Middle was set up with a view to catering to middle market customers – those with revenues of between $100 million and $1 billion according to its founders – providing consulting, implementation and support services focused on Oracle and Salesforce products. The Big Zero meanwhile applies the firm’s Salesforce and enterprise systems expertise with a focus on decarbonisation and ESG accounting. Like the above-mentioned acquisitions, The Big Middle and Big Zero will continue operating out of Adelaide with their existing branding but under the ERM banner, which itself recently underwent an overhaul, with a new green logo featuring a digital-looking circle to capture the firm’s nature-positive credentials and contemporary approach. With a heritage dating back more than 50 years, today ERM has a headcount of more than 8,000 professionals spread across 40 countries.

8. Idea Science strengthens its digital technology offering with the acquisition of Etica Digital

Idea Science, a trailblazing independent consultancy specialising in customer experience, recently announced the acquisition of Etica Digital (Etica), a distinguished Salesforce Gold Consulting Partner. Etica is renowned for its expertise in crafting tailored solutions based on Salesforce, Mulesoft and other leading digital platforms. This strategic acquisition, orchestrated in collaboration with Morgan Shaw Advisory (MSA), fortifies Idea Science’s expertise and its abilities to design, build, test and optimise solutions for its customers. With the addition of Etica, Idea Science augments its workforce with a team of highly skilled Salesforce developers and consultants boasting a proven track record of excellence. This acquisition deepens Idea Science’s expertise in key areas.

9. Evergreen Services Group buys Canberra MSP Centrered

US-based Evergreen Services Group has acquired Canberra managed service provider Centrered for an undisclosed fee. Founded in 1996, Centrered has over 35 staff and offers services covering IT support, cloud solutions, managed security systems and advanced communications technology. The HP, Microsoft and Dicker Data partner has developed specialised expertise in the not-for-profit (NFP) sector, working with some of the most significant NFPs in the region. The acquisition is Evergreen’s first in Australia and second in the region, with the company having purchased Auckland-based software development firm Lancom Technology in January 2024.

10. HR software mammoth Culture Amp acquires people analytics company Orgnostic

Melbourne-based human resources (HR) software giant Culture Amp will soon offer customers like Canva, McDonald’s and Dolby new people analytics capabilities after acquiring Belgrade, Serbia-based Orgnostic for an undisclosed sum. Founded in 2019 by Luka Babic and Igor Bogicevic, Orgnostic offers employee lifecycle mapping, employee turnover modelling, scenario planning, data health analysis, centralised HR data analytics and an AI-driven software that generates data visuals and summaries of an organisation’s metrics. Also commonly known as talent analytics, people analytics is the use of data analysis on candidate and employee issues to understand their effect on critical business outcomes and to evaluate the effectiveness of HR initiatives. The acquisition will allow Culture Amp customers to maximise the value of their existing tools and receive business-critical insights by collecting, cleansing and synthesising people data from disparate sources across the employee lifecycle. Culture Amp anticipates its own people analytics product will be available in the second half of 2024.

11. Nutun Australia falls into local hands as Allegro snaps it up for $120m

Outsourcing specialist Nutun Australia has today been acquired by Allegro Funds in a deal worth roughly $120 million, giving the Sydney-based private equity firm access to 900-plus staff across Australia, New Zealand and Fiji. Based in Melbourne, Nutun Australia is a growing provider of specialised business process outsourcing (BPO) services for a longstanding blue-chip customer base, which includes some of the nation’s largest banks, insurers, utilities and telecommunication providers. BPO is the practice of contracting standard business functions to a third party, and can cover a broad range of tasks like payroll, accounting, customer support, social media marketing and more. The deal values Nutun Australia at approximately $120 million on an enterprise value basis, and will see the company fall into local hands after being run by its parent company, Nutun South Africa. Allegro managing director Jeffrey Largier says the company sees a compelling opportunity for Nutun Australia to broaden the range and capabilities of its service offering in Australia, New Zealand and abroad, and will rapidly build these through organic investment and acquisition activity. Founded in 2004, Allegro is a Sydney-based investment manager with more than $4 billion of assets under management across Australia and New Zealand. Since its inception, the firm has acquired 27 businesses and exited 18 investments, including the Australian operations of Pizza Hut. The Australian arm of Nutun will continue to work closely with Nutun South Africa under a long-term strategic partnership, enabling both businesses to continue service existing clients, build new client partnerships while sharing knowledge, IP and collaborating on multi-geography solutions for their clients. The firm has a broad service offering including credit collections, CX, insurance claims recovery, insource solutions and legal services and trades through its brands recoveriescorp, Mason Black + Mendelsons and Nutun.

12. Canva acquires design and photo editing tool, Affinity

In a move to make its toolset and visual design easier for people of all levels, design platform Canva has acquired Affinity – a software suite developed for photographers and professional designers. The acquisition is expected to help Canva achieve its enterprise goals by expanding its influence into the professional space. The platform also hopes that the move will allow future Affinity users “to craft designs and templates with Affinity to scale across organizations with Canva”. Moving forward, Canva is expected to invest in the Affinity suite to ensure that its solutions remain optimised for professional designers, while allowing them to push the limits of their skills and creativity. The strategic acquisition is just one of several significant moves Canva has made within the past few months, having partnered with TikTok for the short-video platform’s “Business Booms on TikTok” campaign and launching a podcast.