Combined capability will help clients in manufacturing industries quickly and more efficiently deliver products to customers.
STUTTGART, Germany — (BUSINESS WIRE) — August 12, 2013 — Accenture (NYSE: ACN) today announced its intent to acquire PRION Group – a leading consulting and systems integrator that specializes in Siemens Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) Software. The acquisition will strengthen Accenture’s PLM skills and enhance its ability to help clients deliver products to customers faster and more efficiently.
PRION Group provides PLM strategy and process consultancy, system implementation, data migration, application management and PLM as a managed service. With the acquisition of PRION Group, Accenture will expand its end-to-end PLM offering by combining PRION Group’s full range of PLM services with Accenture’s existing PLM capabilities. Combining PRION Group with Accenture’s management consulting, technology and outsourcing capabilities will create a market-leading global PLM offering for a range of industries, including industrial equipment, automotive, consumer goods, and aerospace and defense.
Koen Deryckere, senior managing director with Accenture said: “With manufacturing companies spending as much as 25 percent of their revenues on innovation and product development, PLM can help them avoid investments in products that are either late to market or don’t fully address customer requirements. The combination of PRION Group’s PLM specialist skills and Accenture’s industrialized delivery methodologies and global scale will help clients tackle the fragmented system and process landscape in the product development space, which many companies face today.”
PRION Group’s skilled workforce specializes in implementing Siemens PLM Software to help clients achieve the maximum business benefits the software can provide by improving product data management, reducing development times and more efficiently delivering products to customers faster. PRION Group’s clients span a range of industries, including automotive, aerospace and defense, transportation and engineering and consumer electronics.
Dr. Joseph Unger, managing partner of PRION Group, said: “The combined capabilities of PRION Group and Accenture will enable us to offer clients the full range of services needed to improve the critical processes that get products to market quicker and more efficiently. We will help tackle key pain points of PLM projects and support clients as they seek to reduce the cost of PLM activities while increasing the traceability of products and data transparency.”
Frank Riemensperger, country managing director for Accenture Germany said: “The engineering lifecycle of products increasingly draws on a complex mix of mechanical, electrical and software elements, all of which require different development techniques. Truly understanding and managing dependencies and integration requires a robust set of PLM capabilities. This acquisition will allow us to rapidly expand our PLM capabilities with a strong focus on Siemens PLM technology, thanks to the experience and skills of the PRION Group staff in helping clients unlock new value and efficiencies through critical process improvement.”
“Industry 4.0 concepts will dramatically increase the incidence of sensor-equipped materials and components along the manufacturing cycle,” Riemensperger added. “These provide data and updates that allow companies to further optimize production and become more flexible, complimenting PLM-driven activities around increased efficiency and reduced time-to-market.”
Founded in 1998 and headquartered in Stuttgart, PRION Group is a privately held company with more than 330 employees. It has offices in Munich, Nuremberg, Zurich, Oxford, Portland, Detroit, Bangalore, Pune and Singapore.
Completion of the acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions.
About Accenture
Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company, with approximately 266,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries. Combining unparalleled experience, comprehensive capabilities across all industries and business functions, and extensive research on the world’s most successful companies, Accenture collaborates with clients to help them become high-performance businesses and governments. The company generated net revenues of US$27.9 billion for the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 2012. Its home page is www.accenture.com.
About PRION Group
PRION Group, headquartered in Stuttgart, is a major global Siemens PLM Software partner for the implementation of Teamcenter, NX and Solid Edge. Worldwide, over 330 PRION Group experts provide business-driven and highly standardized PLM and CAD solutions to industry leading companies from offices in Stuttgart, Munich, Nuremberg, Zurich, Oxford, Portland, Detroit, Bangalore, Pune and Singapore.
Forward-Looking Statements
Except for the historical information and discussions contained herein,
statements in this news release may constitute forward-looking
statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation
Reform Act of 1995. These statements involve a number of risks,
uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to
differ materially from those expressed or implied. These include,
without limitation, risks that: the company and Prion will not be able
to close the transaction in the time period anticipated, or at all,
which is dependent on the parties’ ability to satisfy certain closing
conditions; the transaction might not achieve the anticipated benefits
for the company; the company’s results of operations could be adversely
affected by volatile, negative or uncertain economic conditions and the
effects of these conditions on the company’s clients’ businesses and
levels of business activity; the company’s business depends on
generating and maintaining ongoing, profitable client demand for the
company’s services and solutions, and a significant reduction in such
demand could materially affect the company’s results of operations; if
the company is unable to keep its supply of skills and resources in
balance with client demand around the world and attract and retain
professionals with strong leadership skills, the company’s business, the
utilization rate of the company’s professionals and the company’s
results of operations may be materially adversely affected; the
consulting and outsourcing markets are highly competitive, and the
company might not be able to compete effectively; the company’s results
of operations (including its net revenues and operating income) and the
value of balance-sheet items originally denominated in other currencies
could be materially adversely affected by unfavorable fluctuations in
foreign currency exchange rates or changes to existing currencies; the
company could have liability or the company’s reputation could be
damaged if the company fails to protect client and company data or
information systems as obligated by law or contract or if the company’s
information systems are breached; the company’s Global Delivery Network
is increasingly concentrated in India and the Philippines, which may
expose it to operational risks; as a result of the company’s
geographically diverse operations and its growth strategy to continue
geographic expansion, the company is more susceptible to certain risks;
the company’s results of operations could materially suffer if the
company is not able to obtain sufficient pricing to enable it to meet
its profitability expectations; if the company’s pricing estimates do
not accurately anticipate the cost, risk and complexity of the company
performing its work or third parties upon which it relies do not meet
their commitments, then the company’s contracts could have delivery
inefficiencies and be unprofitable; the company’s work with government
clients exposes the company to additional risks inherent in the
government contracting environment, including risks related to
governmental budget and debt constraints; the company’s business could
be materially adversely affected if it incurs legal liability in
connection with providing its services and solutions; the company’s
results of operations and ability to grow could be materially negatively
affected if the company cannot adapt and expand its services and
solutions in response to ongoing changes in technology and offerings by
new entrants; outsourcing services subject the company to different
operational risks than its consulting and systems integration services;
the company’s services or solutions could infringe upon the intellectual
property rights of others or the company might lose its ability to
utilize the intellectual property of others; the company has only a
limited ability to protect its intellectual property rights, which are
important to the company’s success; the company’s ability to attract and
retain business and employees may depend on its reputation in the
marketplace; the company’s alliance relationships may not be successful
or may change, which could adversely affect the company’s results of
operations; the company may not be successful at identifying, acquiring
or integrating other businesses; the company’s profitability could
suffer if its cost-management strategies are unsuccessful, and the
company may not be able to improve its profitability through
improvements to cost-management to the degree it has done in the past;
many of the company’s contracts include performance payments that link
some of its fees to the attainment of performance or business targets
and/or require the company to meet specific service levels, which could
increase the variability of the company’s revenues and impact its
margins; changes in the company’s level of taxes, and audits,
investigations and tax proceedings, or changes in the company’s
treatment as an Irish company, could have a material adverse effect on
the company’s results of operations and financial condition; if the
company is unable to manage the organizational challenges associated
with its size, the company might be unable to achieve its business
objectives; if the company is unable to collect its receivables or
unbilled services, the company’s results of operations, financial
condition and cash flows could be adversely affected; the company’s
share price and results of operations could fluctuate and be difficult
to predict; the company’s results of operations and share price could be
adversely affected if it is unable to maintain effective internal
controls; the company may be subject to criticism and negative publicity
related to its incorporation in Ireland; as well as the risks,
uncertainties and other factors discussed under the “Risk Factors”
heading in Accenture plc’s most recent annual report on Form 10-K and
other documents filed with or furnished to the Securities and Exchange
Commission. Statements in this news release speak only as of the date
they were made, and Accenture undertakes no duty to update any
forward-looking statements made in this news release or to conform such
statements to actual results or changes in Accenture’s expectations
