February 2019
Equiteq, the leading M&A advisory firm for companies in the knowledge economy, is pleased to announce that it has advised Orbium, a business and technology consultancy to the financial services industry, on its acquisition by Accenture, a leading global professional services company. The transaction completed on 13 February 2019.
Founded in 2004 and headquartered in Switzerland, Orbium has more than 500 employees and offices in more than a dozen cities across Europe, Asia-Pacific and the United States. Its clients include global tier-one banks, premium wealth managers and private banks. Orbium is the largest services provider for the Avaloq Banking Suite – a leader in digital and core banking software for the banking and wealth management industry, used by more than 150 banks and wealth managers worldwide. Orbium helps private banks and wealth managers improve their performance by aligning their business strategy with their operating model and technology architecture. Orbium’s unparalleled knowledge of the global wealth management industry has made the company a market leader in the delivery of Avaloq-enabled business transformation projects. The firm has triple the number of Avaloq-certified specialists of any other company and the right to train and certify Avaloq professionals. The acquisition gives Accenture the leading position globally in Avaloq implementation and enhances its services to the private banking and wealth management sectors. It will provide Accenture with the expertise of Orbium’s global workforce as well as technical assets including project accelerators developed specifically for the Avaloq platform. Michael Spellacy, Senior Managing Director and Head of Accenture’s Global Capital Markets practice, commented, “The wealth management industry is moving from high-cost, inflexible in-house and legacy solutions to packaged core platforms, software-as-a-service and business process outsourcing, which provide the modern open architectures required to deliver the new digital services the industry demands. As the leader in Avaloq implementation, Orbium has a unique combination of management consultancy, technology and program-management resources and capabilities that will enable us to accelerate and scale our services to the wealth management industry globally — bringing efficiency and enhanced customer experience to the next generation of wealth managers and their clients.” Samir Gherbi, a partner at Orbium, said, “We are tremendously excited about the new opportunities that we will be able to bring to our clients and our people by becoming part of Accenture. In leveraging Accenture’s leading-edge capabilities, we will be able to significantly expand the reach and scope of our market solutions. Accenture and Orbium share a common focus: our clients’ success.” Regarding Equiteq’s role in the transaction, Samir Gherbi added: “We selected Equiteq as our advisor given their deep sector knowledge. At every step of the journey the Equiteq team has been on hand to advise and support us, helping us understand and navigate the deal process.” Ed Groome, Managing Director of M&A in Equiteq’s London office, said: “It’s been a pleasure working with the Orbium partners and wider team. They have built an impressive business. With Accenture’s highly complementary offering, the team will be able to accelerate the next phase of its growth. We are excited about their future.” To see all of our deals, please click here.