SI Partners advises ArcBlue on sale to Bain & Company

Leading procurement consultancy ArcBlue has been acquired by Bain & Company. SI Partners acted as lead sell-side adviser to ArcBlue negotiating the transaction to completion.

After a successful track record of working together, ArcBlue and Bain & Company decided to solidify their relationship. The new partnership will see the two firms leverage their expertise and services to strengthen Bain’s existing procurement offerings; continuing to offer clients differentiated, cost-effective, end-to-end procurement solutions, ranging from strategy to implementation.

ArcBlue will operate independently as part of Bain’s specialist procurement implementation service line. Delivering procurement solutions to existing and new clients for both short and long-term engagements.

Founded in 2013, ArcBlue specialises in all aspects of the procurement lifecycle. Delivering world class, transformational procurement programs and solutions. Headquartered in Melbourne, Australia, ArcBlue has 10 offices across Asia-Pacific, and a team of more than 150 procurement professionals located across the region.

ArcBlue’s key services and offerings include:

• Procurement transformation and value generation programs

• Category management expertise

• Strategic sourcing capabilities

• Social and sustainable procurement and supply chain solutions

• Expert analytics and digital offerings

• Training and learning development services

• A proprietary digital procurement platform, myBuy

• Project resourcing and recruiting services

"We are delighted to have advised on this deal. It demonstrates the benefit of businesses collaborating together on a partnership basis, before moving towards acquisition. This is our third Australia deal in the past 12 months, and it highlights two trends we are seeing, in terms of strong interest in analytics-led offerings, plus increasing focus on Australian HQ businesses that have successfully expanded into SEA".

Hattie Marsden, Senior Director, SI Partners

“Procurement is essential to an organization’s growth and, in many cases, critical to its sustainability transformation. By joining forces with ArcBlue, Bain aims to become Asia-Pacific’s leading procurement advisor, delivering an end-to-end procurement transformation offering that incorporates capability development, strategy, design and technology,” said Hernan Saenz, leader of Bain & Company’s Global Performance Improvement practice. “After successfully working with the ArcBlue team over the last two years, this acquisition cements the relationship between the two firms, leveraging our collective strengths to deliver a best-in-class procurement offering to the Asia-Pacific region.”

“We are incredibly proud of the success we’ve achieved as a team at ArcBlue and are excited about the opportunities that this acquisition presents to our clients, partners and team”

Chris Newman, ArcBlue co-Managing Director

“Bain and ArcBlue have been able to demonstrate the extraordinary impact of our combined capabilities across a range of projects,” said ArcBlue co-Managing Director, Daniel Fielding. “ArcBlue joining forces with a top-tier, global consulting firm with such exceptional expertise opens up great opportunities to elevate the value we bring to all of our clients.”

About Bain & Company

Bain & Company is a global consultancy that helps the world’s most ambitious change makers define the future.

Across 63 offices in 38 countries, we work alongside our clients as one team with a shared ambition to achieve extraordinary results, outperform the competition, and redefine industries. We complement our tailored, integrated expertise with a vibrant ecosystem of digital innovators to deliver better, faster, and more enduring outcomes. Our 10-year commitment to invest more than $1 billion in pro bono services brings our talent, expertise, and insight to organizations tackling today’s urgent challenges in education, racial equity, social justice, economic development, and the environment. We earned a gold rating from EcoVadis, the leading platform for environmental, social, and ethical performance ratings for global supply chains, putting us in the top 2% of all companies. Since our founding in 1973, we have measured our success by the success of our clients, and we proudly maintain the highest level of client advocacy in the industry.

About ArcBlue

ArcBlue is a consulting firm specialising in procurement & supply chain, operating across the Asia Pacific region.

Headquartered in Melbourne, we have 10 offices across Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong and New Zealand and a team of over 150 expert consultants serving clients from Japan, Korea and the PRC through Southeast Asia to Australia and New Zealand. Our passionate team of professionals have strong, credible experience and a dedication to helping their clients achieve real results.

We provide organisations with practical, hands-on advice from experienced professionals, and support to deliver and embed change across our broad range of services. Our services cover procurement advisory & change management, spend analytics, digital enablement, learning & development programs, savings programs and sustainable procurement. We are also proud to be at the forefront of the growing field of social procurement and work to incorporate it into standard procurement practices.

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