PwC acquires the Australian practice of global advisory firm Advancy
Professional services firm PwC has acquired the Australian practice of Paris-headquartered consultancy Advancy, which in the local market focuses on M&A due diligence and growth strategy.
Originally established two and a half decades ago and joining the global Advancy network in 2013, the firm is led by senior partners and co-founders David Thevenon and Carl Brostrom, who together bring six decades of combined professional experience to PwC.
The deal marks a rare acquisition among Australia’s Big Four in recent times, following a flurry of activity in the lead up to and early Covid-years, with PwC’s also rare sale of its Indigenous Consulting stake to a fellow Big Four in Deloitte in 2024 one of the last.
PwC did however since then sell a part of its financial advisory practice to global consultancy Teneo (mainly restructuring), which subsequently launched its financial advisory practice downunder.
The Advancy deal
Now, PwC has clawed some of those skills back through the addition of Advancy, which has assisted many of Australia’s biggest home-grown private equity players.
“The nature of advisory is changing,” said PwC Advisory practice leader Ro Antao. “Clients are looking for experienced professionals and deeper sector expertise, more integrated support, and partners who can help them move from strategic decisions to outcomes. Advancy’s team in Australia strengthens our ability to support clients across the investment and deals lifecycle.”
In addition to private equity, Advancy has developed particular local expertise over the years in the fast moving consumer goods, food & beverage, manufacturing, retail, hospitality, healthcare, medtech, and services sectors, with both Thevenon and Brostrom having also founded and directed separate hospitality and consumer goods businesses during their careers.
As to strategic advisory, Thevenon and Brostrom gained experience at respectively OC&C Strategy Consultants and Bain & Company in Paris and Sydney, and Boston Consulting Group in Stockholm, prior to establishing the Sydney office of Advancy. Their expertise covers commercial due diligence, value creation, operational effectiveness, and corporate and growth strategy.
A recent snapshot from PwC’s 70-strong Australian M&A team, which is headed by deals leader Kushal Chadha and combines expertise from strategy consulting subsidiary Strategy&, revealed the firm to have advised on 25 completed transactions across twelve industries over its past financial year, with a total disclosed value of more than $2.7 billion – ranking the practice number one for deal count across Asia-Pacific.
The transaction was led by PwC’s internal deal team on the buy-side, while SCD Advisory acted as the sell-side adviser to Advancy.
Meanwhile, Advancy is now left with 8 offices worldwide, located in Paris, Shanghai, Singapore, London, New York, Frankfurt, Boston, and Sao Paulo. The firm has close to 300 consultants.
