Australian Strategy Partners integrates into OC&C Strategy Consultants
Following a year-long partnership, Australian Strategy Partners has been admitted into the integrated network of OC&C Strategy Consultants.
Effective from the 1st May 2022, Australian Strategy Partners will rebrand as OC&C Strategy Consultants, becoming the firm’s 14th office globally. Founded in 1987, OC&C Strategy Consultants is headquartered in London.
“We are delighted to be becoming full partners. Our collaboration with OC&C Strategy Consultants has been a cornerstone of our success and formal integration will help build on and accelerate the significant growth achieved to date,” said Jeremy Barker, Managing Partner at Australian Strategy Partners.
OC&C Strategy Consultants is one of the few global strategic consultancies that over the years decided to stick to a pure-play strategy consulting model (larger rivals such as the MBB have notably branched out into organisational, restructuring, digital and other fields of work). OC&C specialises in three lines of business: corporate strategy, mergers & acquisitions (commercial due diligence) and growth.
Australian Strategy Partners was founded at the start of 2021 by a group of former EY-Parthenon seniors (Jeremy Barker, Maurice Violani and Mark Blackwell) with a similar vision – to offer independent strategic advice.
“When Port Jackson Partners was absorbed into EY [in May 2020] we saw a gap in the local market for high-quality independent strategic advice,” said Barker at the time of launch. “That really provided a window for us to strike out on our own and build something independent.”
In the past 15 months, Australian Strategy Partners has grown into a team of 12 employees. During this period, the firm worked exclusively with OC&C on cross-border and domestic engagements, serving clients in consumer goods, retail, leisure and hospitality, media, technology, industrial products and services, and private equity.
“Since our inception, we’ve completed 14 strategy projects for corporate clients and 20 due diligence projects for private equity clients,” said Barker. Among the financial sponsors the firm works for are Advent Partners Quadrant Private Equity, ROC Partners, and The Riverside Company.
Now part of a global consultancy with about 75 partners and 600 staff, Barker said the Australian team will be able to benefit from OC&C’s vast expertise and network. “It’s hard to compete just as a small local boutique. Global connectivity is important,” he said, adding that for that reason joining up with a global strategy firm was always part of the plan when the trio of co-founders established the firm.
“For our staff it means access to global opportunities for learning and development, projects and transfers.”
“And for our clients, it means a genuine choice for independent strategic advice, unencumbered by a requirement to on sell a plethora of adjacent services.”
OC&C’s entry in Australia
Meanwhile, for OC&C Strategy Consultants, the full integration marks its formal entry in Australia’s strategy consulting market, which according to Barker continues to be robust and is expected to see further growth.
OC&C’s Global Managing Partner Will Hayllar said: “After a hugely successful partnership to date, we are hugely excited to welcome Jeremy, Maurice, Mark and their team into OC&C and continue to build our firm in the region.”
“Our global clients have seen the benefits of a strong on the ground capability in Australia. By deepening our collaboration as one global firm, we are better placed to serve our clients, unlock attractive opportunities for our people and reinforce our vision to be the best home for the best strategy talent.”
The joining of forces comes three months after OC&C Strategy Consultants resumed operations in the Benelux, welcoming back a team from EY-Parthenon that five years previous walked the opposite direction (at the time OC&C did not operate as an integrated partnership).
