Global professional services firm Huron announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Innosight Holdings LLC, a growth strategy firm focused on helping companies navigate disruptive change, enable innovation and manage strategic transformation. When combined, Huron and Innosight will use their strategic, operational and technology capabilities to help clients across multiple industries develop pioneering solutions to address disruption and achieve sustained growth.
“No industry is immune to disruption. Faced with increased competition, often from unconventional sources, organizations are forced to rethink their historical strategies to stay ahead of market forces and changing customer preferences,” said James H. Roth, chief executive officer and president of Huron. “Together, we will provide a full spectrum of services - from strategy to execution - that will help organizations think, plan and act differently to confront disruption and accelerate growth.”
Built by leading strategic thinkers and co-founded by renowned strategy consultant Mark Johnson and Harvard Business School professor and author Clayton Christensen, the world’s foremost authority on disruptive innovation, Innosight is a trusted partner to Fortune 500 companies and other leaders looking to strengthen today’s business while creating tomorrow’s growth engines. The firm’s innovation and transformational strategies have proven successful in industries undergoing disruptive change such as aerospace, automotive, energy, financial services, healthcare, insurance, life sciences and retail.
“Companies are under mounting pressure to satisfy a range of competing interests,” said Scott Anthony, managing partner at Innosight, who will become a Huron managing director. “But shifting stakeholder expectations, combined with disruptive change, create significant opportunities for today’s leaders. Huron and Innosight’s combination of capabilities in strategy, operations, technology and analytics will enable us to offer transformative change to address these opportunities.”
Formed in 2000, Innosight recognized that traditional approaches to strategy and growth were not enough to help companies accelerate transformational change. This became the basis for its “future back” approach to strategy. Organizations that apply Innosight’s approach build leadership alignment on a vision for the future and create portfolios of new innovations and growth businesses that address changing customer needs and outpace their competitors.
Applying the same methodology alongside Huron’s deep industry expertise in healthcare, education and life sciences, the combined firms will help leaders in these critical industries successfully navigate changing market dynamics, regulations and consumer expectations to grow for the long-term.
“Huron and Innosight are a natural fit,” Christensen said. “They are both passionate about creating repeatable and sustained growth for their clients. Together they are uniquely positioned to build resilience in today’s business while at the same time creating future growth engines.”
Innosight has more than 90 employees and a global footprint with locations in the United States, Singapore and Switzerland.
Under the terms of the purchase agreement, Huron will purchase Innosight Holdings, LLC for $100 million upon closing, consisting of $90 million in cash and $10 million in Huron common stock, plus contingent consideration of up to $35 million if specific financial performance targets are met over a four-year period. The cash component of the transaction will be financed with cash on hand and borrowing under the company’s senior secured credit facility. The shares of Huron common stock will not be registered under the Securities Act of 1933 and will be subject to restrictions on transfer under applicable securities law.
For reporting purposes, Innosight will be included in the Business Advisory segment. The transaction is expected to close in March 2017, and is subject to customary closing conditions.