PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC) has acquired corporate performance management (CPM) business Paragon Consulting Group. The group will become part of PwC Advisory’s consulting business with immediate effect.

As a result of the acquisition, PwC will now be able to leverage the CPM expertise of over 90 people within the teams based in the UK, Turkey and Singapore, as well as the joint venture in Dubai. Over forty staff have joined PwC in the UK.

Ashley Unwin, head of consulting, PwC, said: “We are delighted to announce the acquisition of Paragon Consulting Group. Paragon is a leader in corporate performance management technology and this acquisition is an excellent strategic fit with our consulting business.

“We already offer our clients corporate performance management capabilities, but this acquisition means that we can enhance our offering, giving clients full-service – from ideas to implementation – of corporate performance management systems.”

Richard Wyles, managing director, Paragon Consulting Group, said: “We are really excited that we will be able to continue to deliver excellence in performance management, but look forward to new opportunities for us to enrich our skills and experiences, to extend our relationships and make a significant contribution to growing the consulting business.”

Ashley Unwin, head of consulting, PwC, said: “The economic upheaval in the past year has shown organisations the imperative of having access to the information they need to make business-critical decisions. Corporate performance management systems aim to help companies marshall essential information, often from across complex organisations, and access it at short notice. It helps them ensure that they can lead their people and continue to stay ahead in challenging economic times.”

PwC’s Consulting business had revenues in 2008 of 201m (£181m in 2007) and employs more than 1,100 people, working with leading private and public sector clients to deliver significant and enduring improvements in performance and profitability.

I spend my working days at Equiteq deal-making with buyers and sellers so here's my synopsis of what I'm seeing on the ground as the worst (fingers crossed!) of the recession seems to be behind us. The headline is that after a big pause in acquisition programmes caused by economic uncertainty buyer interest and activity is resuming, however there is a substantial mismatch in valuation expectations between buyers and sellers!

Buyers seem to have concluded that the world is not coming to an end and embargoes on acquisition activity are being lifted because the need for growth has not gone away. My barometer for this uplift in activity is that my calls are now being taken and discussions are constructive! However a lot of the interest is what I would describe as speculative. Buyers are coming in with 'low ball' offers and massive earn-out conditions with little up-front cash in the deal structure. Why? Because they're more risk averse and believe that market conditions are in their favour. The bigger firms on the acquiring side of the fence have problems of their own, their valuations have taken a dive and many quoted consulting companies have share prices at rock-bottom levels. This on its own is an argument used in driving down the offers made to sellers. The issue of raising finance has also not gone away and this is also hampering deals.

If you're on the selling side of the fence, acquirers are looking for quality and are much more focused on finding firms with great strategic fit, unique propositions and those that will be transformational in nature. There is a lot of overhead in an acquisition and unless its a strategic buy with transformational prospects the deal may not be worth the effort for the buyer. So if you're a firm with these qualities AND you've performed well during the recession, then you will be a prime target. Therein lies the dilemma, the buyer wants you at a bargain price, but you're not going to sell yourself short and why should you!

Result - Mexican stand-offs and lots more dancing around handbags to try and reach a deal!

However the market has been in a big freeze and this mismatch in expectations is all part of the thawing process. Activity levels ARE picking up, smart buyers who want to be first movers are leading the pace and a number of sectors are in demand, particularly Energy, Environmental and some parts of Financial Services. I'm certainly encouraged by the increased temperature of my telephone handset!

We all know how vital it is in the process of winning consulting business to present effectively. In our industry we're great at towering technical competence but often less great at getting the message across. In fact we're supreme at blinding our audience with science and jargon! That's why I was taken by this article on Business Week about how Steve Jobs of Apple does it. 16 useful tips in this and probably at least one for you! Here's the link - Uncovering Steve Jobs' Presentation Secrets.

This is the current position as we see it as of October 2009. Data collected for deals done in Europe shows that the recession has dampened activity substantially compared to recent years. However sentiment 'on the ground' appears to be moving positively and we're seeing a fair amount of buyer interest as confidence builds each month. The data is for deal values above £3m and note that there is a lag where deals have taken place but not yet reported. 2009 is the yellow line.