Guidehouse acquires Navigant in $1.1 billion deal
Guidehouse, a portfolio company of private equity firm Veritas Capital, has entered a definitive agreement to acquire Navigant Consulting for $1.1 billion.
Navigant shareholders will receive $28 in cash per share, a 16% premium over the Navigant stock’s closing price on August 1, 2019. The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2019.
Washington, DC–based Guidehouse is the former PwC Public Sector practice, which was purchased by Veritas Capital in May 2018. The consultancy, which has 2,000 professionals across 20 US locations, delivers management and technology consulting services to government clients, including federal, state, and local agencies.
Chicago-based Navigant delivers advisory, outsourcing, and technology services to highly regulated industries – including healthcare, financial services, and energy. The company has more than 6,000 employees across offices in North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, and annual revenues of $744 million.
Navigant last year sold its legal and transactions advisory business to consultancy Ankura for $470 million. The move attracted investor interest to the streamlined consulting firm.
The Veritas Capital–backed deal combines a smaller, national, public sector–focused consultancy with a larger, global, private sector–focused consultancy. The combination of Guidehouse and Navigant would create an organization with $1.3 billion in revenues and more than 8,000 global employees, with a heavily US-concentrated presence.
“The acquisition of Navigant is the next step in our journey to create the next generation global consultancy,” Scott McIntyre, CEO of Guidehouse, said. “Navigant is an exceptionally strong management consulting and managed services firm with some of the best minds in healthcare, energy, and financial Services addressing the most complex commercial challenges their clients face.
“With complementary strengths in our focus areas, we will be strongly positioned to continue delivering innovative solutions to tackle some of the toughest challenges facing government and commercial clients, while building resilience into important missions and services.”
A statement from Veritas related that Guidehouse CEO Scott McIntyre will lead the combined company, following the close of the transaction. The heads of Navigant’s business units will continue in their current roles, according to a Navigant company email, while CEO Julie Howard has been offered a seat on the board of the combined firm.
“Following a review of strategic alternatives, including soliciting offers from a diverse group of potential strategic and financial partners, Navigant’s Board unanimously agreed that a sale to Guidehouse is in the best interest of Navigant shareholders, delivering immediate and certain value at an attractive premium,” Howard said. “The combination of Navigant and Guidehouse will create a powerful, global consulting organization characterized by deep industry expertise and leading technical know-how.”
The companies have not yet publicized how the brands will be combined, or whether one brand will be dropped. Guidehouse and Navigant do, however, impart similar symbolism and meaning through their brand names. Whether the fresher Guidehouse name absorbs Navigant, or vice versa, or both brands are preserved, remains to be seen.
