Accenture has acquired Impendi, a provider of consulting services and software that works with private equity firms to optimize their supply chains.

Private equity firms are funds that buy up other businesses, make those businesses more profitable and then sell them at a higher price. Such funds have vastly different requirements than a typical supply chain consultancy’s clients.

The main difference is that most companies seeking a supply chain consultancy usually want to optimize their own procurement operations. Private equity firms, by contrast, typically focus on improving the procurement operations of the businesses they buy to drive up the price at which those businesses can be sold.

Impendi, which is headquartered in New York, can help private equity firms ways to decrease the procurement costs of the companies in which they invest. That might involve, say, switching to a new supplier that provides 20% lower pricing.

Impendi offers its consulting know-how alongside an analytics application that can help companies, including those owned by private equity firms, to track their supply spending. Getting a clear picture of business expenditures in a centralized interface can help business leaders make better decisions on where to save and where.

Often, private equity firms need to look at a company’s supply chain not only after acquiring it but also right before. For example, if a private equity firm is about to buy a manufacturer, it needs to know whether the suppliers from which the manufacturer buys key product components are reliable.

“Leaders in private equity and other industries trust Impendi for our knowledge of strategic sourcing, expertise in spend categories and data-driven insights that help guide decision-making and enhance enterprise value,” remarked Impendi boss Nathan MacCarter. “As part of Accenture, we will be able to capture even greater value for clients.”

The Impendi deal will see Accenture gain about 140 new employees in the U.S and India. The acquisition will bolster Accenture’s private equity practice, which provides many of the same services as Impendi to the same types of organizations. 

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