M&A in Aug. in Services, including 2 SCD deals

2. SCD Advisory advises French group Bollore on purchase of Lynair Logistics

Bolloré Logistics, one of the globe’s ten largest transport and logistics groups, has expanded its presence in Australia with the acquisition of Adelaide-based Lynair Logistics. Part of France-listed Bolloré group (one of the 500 largest companies in the world), Bolloré Logistics provides the full range of import and export services to small and medium-sized companies. The firm has over 600 agencies in 111 countries, and 13 500 employees based across offices in five continents. In Australia, Bolloré Logistics has been active since 1975, and today the company – with its 330 staff, 5 offices and 7 warehouses – ranks among the leaders in the warehousing, freight forwarding, transport and supply chain sector. The acquisition of Lynair Logistics boost Bolloré Logistics’ presence in South Australia, and adds a team of around 20 staff. The move in particular deepens the company’s activities in air freight, sea freight, customs clearance and international logistics.

3. EY strengthens financial services technology consulting capabilities with Q4 Associates addition

Ernst & Young, New Zealand is excited to announce that the team from boutique technology consulting firm Q4 Associates Limited has joined EY New Zealand effective of 1 August 2022. The Q4 Associates addition will enable EY New Zealand to better serve clients, particularly in the financial services sector, by strengthening its existing intelligent automation (IA) and robotics process automation (RPA) capabilities and bolstering EY New Zealand’s existing financial services technology consulting team. The team of 12 highly skilled technology consultants are joining the EY New Zealand financial services technology consulting team, with Q4 Associate’s co-founders Samantha Osborne, Maurice Dubey and Shayde Boryer joining the leadership team in New Zealand. The team will be based out of the Auckland office and will service clients across New Zealand and Australia. Q4 Associates offer full stack IA and RPA projects and consulting services. They have a strong brand in the New Zealand market across broad industry verticals, working with some of the largest institutions.

4. Deloitte buys learning & development consultancy The ID Crowd

Deloitte has acquired The ID Crowd, a learning & development consulting firm based in Sydney. The deal, Deloitte’s first in its 2022/23 financial year, sees a team of around 16 staff join the Human Capital practice of Deloitte Consulting. The ID Crowd’s team will become part of the Learning & development service line – a practice area that has seen a significant uptick in demand due to the growing need for upskilling and reskilling at a time of labour shortages, and broader changes to how employees are supported and developed as a result of Covid-19-induced changes to ways of working. Founded in in 2013, The ID Crowd specialises in the design and development of learning programs and solutions. The team works across Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane, serving clients across the financial services, health, utilities, retail and public sectors. As part of the deal, The ID Crowd CEO Nicole White and co-owner and COO Lee Booy will take on senior roles in the Human Capital practice.

5. MYOB acquires Endeavour Solutions and Addax Business Solutions practices

Business management software platform MYOB is continuing on its acquisition journey buying the Greentree and MYOB Advanced practices of Melbourne-based Endeavour Solutions Australia and Perth-based enterprise resource planning (ERP) specialist Addax Business Solutions.  The acquisition deal will see Endeavour Solutions Australia’s team of ERP and business intelligence specialists and Addax Business Solutions’ team of ERP and business solutions consultants join MYOB’s enterprise division. This adds more capability and expertise to its Greentree Centre of Excellence and grows MYOB’s in-house team of Advanced specialists. In addition, Addax’s move to join MYOB will also provide it with the ability to offer cloud hosting services for its Greentree customers.

6. Pax8 acquires New Zealand cloud provider Umbrellar Cloud

Service Provider Pax8 has acquired Umbrellar, a provider of Microsoft cloud solutions with a focus on services that provides over 1,000 New Zealand companies with cloud managed services, migration, advisory services, and cloud procurement. Umbrellar, with its headquarters in Auckland, New Zealand, aims to provide its partners with the technology of the future through first-rate professional services and its procurement platform. Hence, with the acquisition, Pax8 can enter the New Zealand market and empower its rapidly expanding partner network to hasten digital transformation both domestically and internationally.

7. Motorola Solutions acquires Perth-based Barrett Communications

Motorola Solutions has acquired Perth-based global provider of high and very high frequency (HF/VHF) radio equipment for free to air radio communications Barrett Communications. The tech enables critical communications in any location without the need for infrastructure, with Motorola claiming it being ideal for security, peacekeeping operations and responding to natural disasters.  Barrett was founded in 1976 and designs, manufactures and supports HF and VHF radio communications, working alongside customers in more than 150 countries. Customers include US and Australian government agencies, critical infrastructure and non-government organisations, along with providing communications for supporting humanitarian and peacekeeping efforts in Africa, Asia, the Middle East and South America.

8. CI&T acquires Transpire to enhance its growth in Australia and APAC

CI&T, a global digital specialist, announces the execution of a sale and purchase agreement to acquire Transpire Technology Pty Ltd, an award-winning Australian technology consultancy, to enhance its growth in APAC. Since 2009, Transpire has been the trusted technology partner of some of Australia’s most innovative organizations, including Vodafone, Virgin Australia and ASX200 listed companies. Headquartered in Melbourne, with team members across Australia, Transpire delivers digital experiences across several verticals, with a solid design-led, mobile-first, cloud-native approach. In 2022, Transpire was certified as a Great Place to Work®, recognizing its leading workplace culture in Australia. CI&T’s digital transformation expertise has accelerated business impact for leading brands around the world. By combining insight-driven digital strategy, customer-centric design, and best-in-class engineering, CI&T brings ideas to market faster, generating immediate business results. As part of this strategic acquisition, Transpire will add around 100 digital specialists to CI&T, further expanding the company’s operations in the region.

9. RSK Australia expands APAC capabilities with acquisition of Projence

RSK Group Limited, a global leader in the delivery of sustainable solutions, announces the addition of New South Wales-based integrated project management firm Projence to its rapidly growing Australian business. The third acquisition in the last eight months and fourth overall in Australia, Projence joins three Australian companies – civil engineering company Western Project Services, environmental and occupational hygiene business EDP Consultants, and advisory and project delivery services firm SJA. Joining the RSK Group, Projence will further grow the Group’s project management and commercial services capabilities within the region, and expand their global portfolio of environmental, engineering and technical solutions businesses.

10. Mantel Group builds up A/NZ data play with Aginic acquisition

Technology and design consultancy Mantel Group has dramatically scaled its data offering through the acquisition of data and insights consultancy Aginic.  The addition of Aginic will deliver scale and position Mantel Group to provide end-to-end data service offerings within Australia and New Zealand such as data strategy, governance, implementation and support.  Aginic has over 100 employees who will continue to work from their offices in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne, but also have access to Mantel’s hubs on offer across Australia and New Zealand, including destinations like Magnetic Island and Queenstown. Aginic will remain as a standalone brand within Mantel Group’s house of brands structure. Founded in 2014 by Marty Conneely and Brett Thebault, the company has grown to more than 100 people with capabilities across data engineering, analytics, delivery and design.

11. Banyan Software announces acquisition of printIQ

Banyan Software, Inc., a company focused on acquiring, building, and growing great enterprise software businesses, is excited to announce the acquisition of printIQ. printIQ delivers a comprehensive print management system to customers throughout New Zealand, Australia, the United States, and Europe. Headquartered in Wellington, New Zealand, printIQ is a high-end, modular print management information system (MIS) that powers a seamless, end-to-end estimating, ordering, and production workflow. Focused on the future of print, printIQ is committed to helping printing companies optimize cost and product offerings with their market-leading, print-agnostic workflow management solutions.

12. The Access Group snaps up Queensland’s Fathom

The Access Group is continuing to snap up financial independent software vendors (ISV), purchasing Queensland-headquartered business Fathom.  Started in 2012, the reporting, forecasting and financial insights business management vendor provides visualisations based on financial data.  Brisbane-based Fathom has offices in the US and UK, with a customer base of 7,500, who are based in 31 industries and 81 countries across Asia Pacific, UK, Europe and the US. Kerry Agiasotis, Access’ Asia Pacific president, said the acquisition of Fathom, along with its purchase of Reckon Accountants Group back in May for $100 million, supports its commitment to SMEs and accounting firms in Australia and New Zealand (A/NZ).