Sia Partners acquires RG Advisory in Toronto
Sia Partners, a Paris-headquartered management consultancy, has acquired RG Advisory, a Toronto-based firm delivering risk and compliance consulting to the financial services industry.
Founded in 2013, RG Advisory is a data-driven consultancy that helps investment banking, institutional services, and private banking organizations turn risks into competitive business advantage. The firm offers advisory services in technical regulatory analysis, data management, application development, IT change management, and program management.
RG Advisory’s consultants have deep expertise in helping financial institutions fulfil regulatory mandates in Basel II and III, Dodd-Frank, EMIR, and FATCA. The Toronto-based company has 30 employees.
The firm’s clients include Royal Bank of Canada, Bank of Montreal, Bank of Nova Scotia, and CIBC.
Sia Partners’ acquisition of RG Advisory will strengthen its Toronto office, bringing the location’s headcount to 40 people. Reena Chaudhary, founder of RG, will now lead the Sia Partners Toronto office and will join the Canada executive committee.
Sia Partners Canada now has more than 90 professionals between its Montreal and Toronto locations, delivering strategy and transformation services to banking, insurance, energy, telecom, media, and public sector clients. The French-origin firm entered the Canadian market in 2014, and today its Canadian operations represent $15 million in annual turnover – or 12% of global revenue.
The acquisition is part of Sia’s new three-year strategic plan (Next-Gen 2023), which will place substantial investment into bolt-on acquisitions, especially in North America. The firm plans to reach a global employee headcount of 3,000 and $775 million in global turnover by 2023.
Sia plans to invest $310 million, primarily in bolt-on acquisitions, with $155 million spent in 2021. Approximately 70-80% will be spent on acquisitions, with the rest going to AI investments and organic growth.
"North America has been central to our development for several years. We are approaching the threshold of 500 employees, which we will cross in the coming weeks, as planned, despite the Covid-19 pandemic. In Canada, we aim to surpass 150 employees by the end of 2022, with business activity balanced between Quebec and Ontario. The coupling of our business activity between the United States and Canada presents many commercial and operational synergies, particularly in the AI and Consulting 4.0 domains," said Matthieu Courtecuisse, founder and CEO of Sia Partners.
The consulting firm has seen solid growth in the last three years, doubling its client portfolio and nearly doubling its headcount. Sia Partners today has 1,800 consultants (compared to 930 in 2017) and 31 international offices (compared to 21 in 2017), 10 of which are in North America (compared to 4 in 2017).
Sia in 2019 acquired two Seattle-based consultancies: Caiman Consulting and Loft9.
