Nous Group buys Cubane Consulting and its UniForum brand
Nous Group has bolstered its capabilities in the higher education sector in Australia and beyond with the acquisition of Cubane Consulting.
Founded in 2009 by Jonathan Blakeman (then Vice President Finance and Operations at University of New South Wales) and Edward Curry-Hyde (formerly at Strategy&), Cubane Consulting is a management advisory dedicated to education consulting services. The 40-strong firm has offices in Sydney, London and Toronto.
Cubane Consulting is also the brain child of UniForum – a world leading benchmarking programme that is used by over fifty universities to assess their administrative expenditures and inject a data-driven approach to strategies for more efficiency. Notable universities using UniForum are the University of Melbourne, London School of Economics, the University of Cambridge, the University of Oxford, and the University of British Columbia.
Having worked together for over a decade “supporting shared university clients around the world to drive transformative change” said Nous Group chief executive Tim Orton, Nous Group has now fully acquired Cubane Consulting.
According to Orton, the pair are an excellent match. Both firms enjoy a leading track record in the education sector, and two companies have a complementary footprint – Nous Group and Cubane Consulting have operations in Australia, the UK & Ireland, and Canada.
“We believe that the insights offered by UniForum coupled with access to Nous Group’s expertise in shaping and implementing improvement programs offers our university clients the opportunity to further strengthen the strategic management of their professional and administrative services,” he said.
Commenting on why his firm joined its larger counterpart (Nous Group has over 400 consultants and staff), Curry-Hyde said: “We are delighted to leveraging the expertise, intellectual property and reputation of Nous. Together we aim to build a global leader in the education sector.”
“We look forward to our clients experiencing the benefits of this partnership,” concluded Orton and Curry-Hyde.
Cubane Consulting was advised during the transaction by SCD Advisory, which earlier this earlier also brokered the deal between Hypothesis and McKinsey.
