“Buyers coming into the marketplace have been serious about buying and also realising they are going to have to pay reasonable prices,” reports Paul Collins begin_of_the_skype_highlighting     end_of_the_skype_highlighting, Managing Partner at Equiteq. “And sellers are saying it is time for them to act. The market is on its way back up; they want to sell.” He expects – and hopes – there is going to be a lot of M&A activity over the year.

It appears that buyers are more interested in adding new capabilities rather than enhancing existing capabilities. Consultancies with less than $100 million in sales are telling Equiteq they have a hole that needs filling in capability or geography. “The briefs are quite specific,” says Collins. They want a firm within a certain revenue range, with a specific capability, and in a particular geography.

Continued in Management Consultant International