Certeco and P2 Consulting announced they signed an agreement to combine the two companies.

Backed by Lonsdale Partners, the deal is focused on the lower mid-market, funded by a management buy out of P2 in December 2016.

The Certeco transaction follows P2’s recent acquisition of FS101, a financial crime consulting firm, and is part of a wider ‘buy and build’ strategy to create a consulting services firm that will challenge the market dominance of established consultancies.

Engaged in business change, both companies’ services have a similar blue chip client base, offering new capabilities that span the transformation lifecycle for blue chip organisations.

Doug Elliott, CEO of P2 Consulting, said: “At P2 Consulting, our very essence is around the lifecycle of clients’ transformation programmes – taking the strategy and focusing on the design and delivery of the programme to help our clients realise their vision.

‘Providing a broader range of consultancy services’

“We are very excited about this transaction, as the services P2 and Certeco offer are very complementary.

“Together, we will be able to provide a broader range of consultancy services to the market, thereby moving us towards our vision of being a real challenger to the big consultancies.”

Augusto Negrillo, CEO of Certeco, added: “The transaction with P2 comes at just the right time in our growth trajectory. We have actively been seeking an investment partner to achieve our strategic ambitions.

The deal with P2, backed by Lonsdale, accelerates that plan, as not only will we have the financial backing to support our growth, we are instantly a number of steps further forward towards achieving our goal of being a challenger consultancy to the big four firms.”

Written from press release by Leah Alger