Management consultancy Bain & Company recently announced its acquisition of global procurement and supply chain consulting firm Proxima.
The U.K.-based Proxima specializes in helping some of the world’s most successful businesses manage cost transformation, supply chain sustainability, and decarbonization efforts. The company provides procurement and supply chain transformation across strategy, design, technology, capability development, and execution. Its efforts have won widespread recognition, with the firm being listed among the Forbes “America's Best Management Consulting Firms” and the Financial Times’ “U.K.’s Leading Management Consultants” in 2022.
Following the deal’s close, Proxima will operate as part of Bain’s specialist implementation service line, with Michael Garstka, a London-based Bain Senior Partner, serving as Executive Chairman of Proxima. The arrangement is similar to Bain’s acquisition of Australia-based procurement consultancy ArcBlue earlier in the year, helping the firm establish a presence in the Asia-Pacific supply chain and procurement market as well as in Europe.
The acquisition comes at a crucial time for global procurement, with supply chains still roiled by the receding pandemic and ongoing materials and labor shortages. Despite concerns about a pending recession continuing to be echoed by business leaders around the world, the supply chain and procurement acquisition market remains hot. Proxima’s expertise and international reach should prove beneficial to Bain’s efforts to grow its ranks in the U.K., as well as firm up its presence in the sector.
“Procurement is more vital than ever to enabling companies to achieve resilient and sustained business growth while also meeting their net zero agendas,” said Hernan Saenz, head of Bain’s Global Performance Improvement practice. “We believe this acquisition will further strengthen our ability to meet the needs of clients around the globe for end-to-end procurement transformation across strategy, design, technology, capability development, and execution.”
As companies continue efforts to keep their net-zero promises, more and more are realizing that significant headway can be made by optimizing value chains to reduce or eliminate emissions, as the overwhelming majority of greenhouse gas emissions originate there. Proxima’s proven track record of success in the supply chain decarbonization space will surely prove to be a boon to Bain’s delivery of procurement and supply chain solutions to existing and new engagements.
