Accenture launches tech-driven transactions advisory practice in APAC

Technology consulting giant Accenture is launching a new transactions advisory offering for the Asia Pacific region, which will be led by Sydney-based managing director Suzie Blinman.

Suzie Blinman has served as Accenture’s A/NZ private equity leader for the past eighteen months, joining the firm last year from the partnership of Strategy& to head up the newly-created practice.

Sitting within Accenture Strategy, the new Asia Pacific tech-driven transaction advisory and value creation practice will serve the firm’s corporate M&A and private equity clients across the region.

Blinman brings three decades worth of professional experience to her new role, having kicked off her career with close to a decade at Kearney before a three-year stint at business and deals advisory Crescendo Partners alongside recently-appointed EY Port Jackson managing partner Chris Paxton, who co-founded Crescendo after departing Kearney before then later joining Strategy&.

Blinman however took a decade-long detour into the media industry before her own PwC stint, including time as chief commercial & corporate and chief customer officer at Foxtel Media (the group’s advertising solutions arm). In 2020, she rejoined the consulting fray as a partner in Strategy&’s deals strategy & value creation team, before then crossing to Accenture last July.

Now, Blinman has been tasked with establishing the Asia Pacific arm of the tech giant’s Transactions Advisory practice, while also stepping up as global private equity strategy lead for the APAC region. The division advises on leveraging advanced technologies including generative AI throughout the M&A life-cycle, from strategy and due diligence through to organisational design.

Accenture points to advances in AI & analytics, virtual data rooms, and cloud-based tools for managing complex integrations as some of the technologies which are transforming risk evaluation and decision-making to streamline and accelerate M&A processes, with two thirds of executives in a recent Accenture survey saying they expect GenAI to revolutionise the deals function.

In establishing the transactions advisory line in the Asia Pacific, Blinman will be supported by US-based global practice leader and senior managing director James Neely (also ex-Strategy&), and global Strategy private equity lead Rachel Barton out of London. Europe and North America M&A bosses Sven Wahle and Seth Van Winkle oversee the practice in their respective regions.