23 January 2023

PCB Partners are delighted that Co-Founder Ben Doltis interviewed with Forbes to tell them what we are all about…

Read a copy of it here.

The decision to buy or sell a company is a high stakes decision, whichever side of the deal you are on. And post deal euphoria for those involved is understandable. But the real test of the wisdom and value of any transaction usually takes some years to be tested and proven. This is especially true of businesses in the client service industry. The race to achieve market leading scale and extend capabilities in a complex, fast changing marketplace where hitherto discrete services domains are converging has only heightened the risks involved. The dramatic acceleration in M&A activity especially over the last 3 years has resulted in a ‘seller’s’ market with valuations at unprecedented levels and in many places a shortage of businesses and assets to be acquired. So- called platform acquisitions which an acquirer can use as a foundation for the acquisition of additional capabilities are harder to find. Increasingly the search is for smaller less mature organisations. These organisations are by definition earlier in their organisation life cycle and typically still dependent to a significant degree on the vision, drive and values of the founding entrepreneur. In times past, acquirers could mitigate risk by making as much as half of the purchase price contingent on future performance but in today’s seller’s market this is rarely the case. Sellers are guaranteed all or virtually all the acquisition price up front provided they simply stick around for a few years. As a fast growing M&A advisor PCB Partners philosophy and design is ideally suited to this marketplace. The senior team combines successful entrepreneurs like Ben Doltis, who built and sold his own companies to the ManpowerGroup in 2013 and Andrew Bloch who similarly built and sold his own marketing services firm to Enero, together with PCB’s industry experts with a wealth of experience in strategy and organisation development as well as private equity and corporate finance.

Describing an M&A advisor as ‘the entrepreneur’s friend’ seems at first to be a contradiction in terms, but it is not. PCB’s goal is to discover through its network of industry relationships, fast growing high potential organisations early on their S Curve of development. Often these companies are approaching an inflection point but have not yet made the decision to be acquired. And though small now, they may contain the seeds in people, IP and ideas that will propel the next generation of success in 5 to 7 years.

These companies are ideal targets particularly for companies that have made the execution of programmatic M&A a core part of their strategy and as a result become true masters of identifying negotiating and integrating acquisitions. However, as the disparity in scale between the acquirer and target continues to increase, so the fear of loss of identity and degrees of freedom to develop in the future also increases.

At PCB, we have learnt that being trusted by the selling entrepreneurs, being able to identify with their hopes and fears, genuinely considering ‘parenting’ fit and at times being able to step into negotiations to circumvent ‘stalls’ is a valuable service to our buy side clients and to the sellers as well. The reality is that, although ultimately every transaction finishes with a negotiation of terms, acquisitions that stand the test of time and create real economic value need to create a win-win dynamic.  Today’s valuations are increasingly hard to justify on simple growth projections of the acquired company. They require a bet on additional possibilities that are not yet visible or fully understood but which will emerge once the companies are combined under common ownership. Shared vision, momentum, agility and a culture of mutuality and possibility are the ingredients needed for the longer term.

Companies spend trillions of dollars a year on acquisitions. And in truth many of them don’t come close to the returns expected, though this is usually only visible externally in the case of large acquisitions that fail, but acquisitions that don’t work out distract from other priorities, absorb resources that would be better deployed on the next growth curve and can dilute rather than reinforce differentiation.

Acting with a foot in both camps, whilst it takes great care, can be what makes the difference.

PCB PARTNERS NAMED AS FINALIST FOR BOUTIQUE INVESTMENT BANKING FIRM OF THE YEAR IN 20TH ANNUAL M&A ADVISOR AWARDS.

PCB Partners, global M&A advisory firm with a focus on serving digital and consulting businesses, has been named as a finalist for Boutique Investment Banking Firm of the Year for the 20th Annual M&A Advisor Awards by The M&A Advisor.

PCB Partners CEO Ben Doltis said: “After a terrific year of growth for our global business and the delivery of exceptional client outcomes, we’re proud to be recognized as an award finalist by the M&A Advisor.” PCB Partners Global Operations Leader Ramone Param added “The PCB team works at the highest levels within the digital and consulting sectors, with real experience of building and selling their own companies and a deep understanding of how to build value in this market effectively. This recognition reflects our global team’s commitment to industry-leading results for our clients through a year marked by significant uncertainty and accelerating transformation.”

The M&A Advisor was founded in 1998 to publish insights and intelligence on M&A, serving the world’s leading investment banking, financing and restructuring professionals. The M&A Advisor has been honouring excellence in deal making and bestowing recognition on top professionals and firms for two decades.

Roger Aguinaldo, Founder of The M&A Advisor said: “Given the backdrop of uncertainty, and the tremendous activity over the past year, these award finalists represent the finest deals and professionals within the M&A industry …. This period continues to be ripe with challenges, but also abundant with M&A activity. These professionals were able to navigate through a global pandemic, a distracting Presidential election and administration turnover, and a volatile economic turmoil, all the while executing transactions representing several hundred billions of dollars of enterprise value.”

About PCB Partners (www.pcbpartners.co.uk)

PCB Partners provides buy-side and sell-side services, with a focus on disruptive technologies, digital transformation, management consulting and creative marketing services businesses. Ben Doltis founded PCB Partners with one-time LDC Managing Director, Tim Farazmand in 2018. The leadership have built a world class team of some 20 people, from diverse backgrounds. In order to achieve their objectives, it was important for PCB to hire outside of traditional M&A staff and attract entrepreneurs who had first-hand experience of buying and selling their own companies.  These have included Tim Breene (ex-Founder Accenture Interactive) and Ramone Param (ex-PwC and Equiteq North America) in North America; Brett Newland (ex-Accenture Security COO), Peter Jacobs (former PwC senior partner), Adriana Roman-Holly (ex-Ciesco and Pall Mall Capital), Mark Casement (PwC), and advisor Andrew Bloch (Founder of Frank PR) in the UK;  Animesh Parihar (ex-Head of Global Delivery at Finastra) in India, Sunnie De Grow (PwC Corporate Development) in Shanghai, Matthew Melhuish (Founder of BMF and former Enero CEO) in Australia and advisor Erez Benovich in Israel. The firm have also invested in a dedicated research team with strong relationships with academia and industry associations. In a short space of time PCB Partners has created a new kind of M&A Advisory Firm recognized by major corporates and private equity investors in the technology and consulting space.

This follows the publication of an article based on this thought piece by consultancy.uk.

Tim Breene is a thought leader, author and business mentor whose leadership and experience has forever changed the world of technology, digital media and consulting. In a series of articles, he will be exploring how business leaders can effectively navigate the rapidly changing marketplace. Tim was the Founder and first CEO of Accenture Interactive. Following his recent retirement as CEO of World Relief, Tim joined PCB Partners as Senior Advisor to support the leadership team with its global expansion.

We live in a time when we are awash with new management theories seeking to explain the keys to success and to future proofing your organization in a rapidly changing marketplace. Whether it’s Reid Hoffmann’s theory of “blitzscaling” or Brian Robertson’s thinking on “Holacracy” to institutionalize agile working, it seems there is always a new theory to apply to help us scale our businesses in the rapidly transforming economy. Sadly, if there is one thing we can be certain of, it is that predicting the future is, at best, an imprecise science. We live in a world that is VUCA – volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous. The links between the past, the present and the future are not tidy – we’re always in the middle of a new revolution.

As business leaders we‘re touched by the major developments happening around us now – the trend to hyper-specialization; the M&A fueled race to dominant scale; the acceleration of digital transformation and growth fueled by the Covid experience of virtual working; networking as the new norm; the power of data – to name just a few. At the same time, we are looking ahead and asking hard questions so that we’re positioned for the future, as well as for our success today.

When I first conceived of what became Accenture Interactive, it was because I recognized that traditional advertising agencies did not have either the culture or the technology expertise to respond to a content rich, data-informed multichannel universe. Client IT shops, steeped in ‘waterfall’ development processes could not respond with the agility that CMOs would need in an increasingly digital world. It was what Paul Nunes and I described in our book “Jumping the S-Curve” labelled a BEMI – a big enough market insight – to propel a journey to leadership today in digital marketing and advertising. The insight informed several early acquisitions for Accenture Interactive, extending its capabilities into new domains, and setting in motion a process of discovery and invention as we consciously sought out talent beyond the edge of Accenture’s traditional culture via non-traditional partnerships. All the while, reflecting on the right balance between separation from, and integration with, Accenture’s core delivery model. The detail of the vision and model were adjusted in the light of successes, failures and the evolving external environment. When we finally formalized the launch of Accenture Interactive in 2009, it was after 4 years of experimentation and storming to discover ‘the pattern that worked’.

The current race for scale, which has resulted in dramatic increases in acquisition activity over the last year – with more than 1,000 digital commerce transactions in the first half of 2021, an increase of more than 40% compared to just 3 years ago – is set to remain because maximizing network effects will continue to matter and aggressive growth in the current market carries a premium over efficiency.  But sooner or later, large fast-growing organizations will have to grapple with changing workforce expectations, and some of the cultural and organizational pressures arising from this rush to scale. The winners will be those who think beyond the immediate challenges of acquiring the assets and people needed to stay competitive today. These winners are thoughtful about creating the culture and organization that will enable them to continue changing ahead of the curve.

That’s because the only thing we know for certain is that we cannot ever truly predict the future. When the next seismic shock comes, the organizations with the best, most engaged and committed talent will be the winners.

PCB Partners is an entrepreneurial global M&A advisory firm serving digital and consulting businesses. If you would like to discuss your acquisition strategy, preparing your business for a sale or business strategy. Please get in touch.

Great to see PCB Partners named in the Spear’s Magazine 500 this year – the only M&A company to make the list.

https://spears500.com/profile/SPAC743/pcb-partners/ 

And well deserved recognition for PCB founder Ben Doltis who also makes the list in a personal capacity.

https://spears500.com/profile/SPA829/ben-doltis/

It is always pleasing to receive testimonials from our Buy-Side clients, so we were delighted to receive this one from Reply.

Reply retained PCB Partners to help them find and acquire off-market consulting firms, to help them bolster their capabilities in their UK organisation.

It has been a pleasure supporting them on two acquisitions, that completed at the very end of 2020 – we look forward to continue working with them on their inorganic plans in 2021.

Read Full Article here

Matthew Melhuish, the former CEO of publicly listed marketing services company Enero, has joined PCB Partners in Australia as a Board Advisor.

The marketing industry veteran brings over three decades of experience working across the UK, Europe, US and Australia to the firm. At PCB Partners, he will focus on supporting the identification of targets, providing buy-side and sell-side advisory services, delivering transaction support and bringing together entrepreneurs and investors.

PCB Partners was founded in 2018 by Ben Doltis and Tim Farazmand, after they met during the process of Doltis selling his first consulting business. Farazmand was Managing Director at LDC, the private equity arm of Lloyds Bank – and although Doltis decided not to sell his firm in 2013 to LDC, the duo kept contact and teamed up to launch their M&A advisory. PCB Partners specialises in the technology and business services sectors, with a focus on the mid-market segment.

As an entrepreneur, Melhuish founded BMF, an Australian creative agency which grew to 250 employees. After selling BMF to Enero, he became CEO of the group. In the role, he led the firm’s buy-and-build strategy and more recently the successful turnaround of the services business.

Melhuish concluded his Enero role in this year, and also serves as a Board Director of coffee company Campos. He also acts as an independent consultant to various businesses in the football, footwear and private wealth management sectors.

Commenting on his role at PCB Partners, Melhuish said: PCB Partner’s entrepreneurial spirit and empathy for the entrepreneurial journey really sets them apart from others in this space. I’m excited to be joining them and look forward to bringing their very different approach to the Australian market.”

The appointment comes shortly after PCB Partners bolstered its team in India with Animesh Parihar, and in the UK with PwC veterans Julian Brown and Peter Jacobs.

Read Full Article here

PCB Partners has announced two appointments to further strengthen its team and international reach.  Matthew Melhuish joins as a Board adviser in Australia and Animesh Parihar as a consultant.

Until recently Melhuish was CEO of Enero, a publicly listed marketing services company.  Enero had previously acquired his business, BMF, as well as Frank – which was founded by fellow PCB advisor, Andrew Bloch. Parihar joins as a consultant and will help Indian pure play IT companies grow inorganically, both internationally and locally. He brings to PCB Partners over 40 years’ industry experience – most recently as Head of Global Delivery at the financial technology company, Finastra.

They follow the recent appointment of PwC veterans Julian Brown and Peter Jacobs, and Frank founder Andrew Bloch.