Last week, Trench Farrow, and the week before that, Monaghans. Yep, the pace of consolidation, with independent firms increasingly attracting the interest of bigger players, is continuing to gather momentum.

It’s also beginning to fit a pattern. First off, you have the big boys snapping up either small specialist firms, which add new or different skills, or regional players to expand their geographical spread. Then there is a new breed of listed firms such as the two that made the aforementioned buys, namely White Young Green and Erinaceous. They operate in the property and construction sectors and in the last year or so have dived in to QSing and project management, swallowing up medium-sized firms with a voracious appetite.

So where will future market moves come from? One senior QS boss reckons major property agents are eyeing up our sector. And rather than the recent moves by Erinaceous et al, the King Sturges or Jones Langs Lasalles of this world may look to strike on a much grander scale. So the top 10 QS and PM firms, until now the acquisitors and immune from interest from bigger beasts, may be in the sights of property players. There are some whispers in the marketplace that the tie-up this summer between EC Harris and giant Cushman & Wakefield to work in a joint venture on the continent and beyond could be just a prelude to ECH itself being swallowed up. There are inherent tensions in such service lines existing in one firm, but the prospect of ever-bigger operations and players in the UK and beyond is a very real one.

Talent contest

Instead of moaning about the current skills crisis, we’ve decided to do something about it. Our Protégé 2007 contest, where students will battle it out to win a job with Bucknall Austin, will hopefully highlight the considerable skills needed to be a consultant as well as proving that talent amongst the student community definitely does exist.

Phil Clark

Source

QS News