Accordion buys FCM to boost private equity services

Accordion has acquired performance improvement firm FCM in a deal that expands the New York-based consultancy's work with private equity-backed companies beyond its traditional focus on the finance function.

The transaction brings together Accordion's financial and data-led consulting services with FCM's operator-led transformation practice. Both firms work primarily with large private equity sponsors and their portfolio companies across the investment lifecycle.

Accordion specialises in financial consulting for private equity, with an emphasis on the office of the chief financial officer. It has increasingly targeted broader value creation mandates as sponsors seek tighter control over portfolio performance and exit outcomes.

FCM adds a team of around 50 professionals, many of whom are former C-suite executives. The firm works on operational diligence, post-close activation and longer-term performance programmes across operations, technology, finance, human resources, sourcing, real estate and programme governance.

Since its founding in 2014, FCM has supported more than USD $100 billion in private equity transactions, according to the company. It reports that its work has contributed more than USD $28 billion in new enterprise value for clients.

Accordion expects the acquisition to deepen its performance improvement work. It also expects the deal to extend its role with sponsors that are seeking a single partner across financial and operational mandates.

Nick Leopard, Founder and Chief Executive of Accordion, said the firm's heritage lay in strengthening the financial underpinnings of private equity-backed companies and in the execution that follows financial planning.

"Accordion's roots are in strengthening the financial foundations of private equity-backed companies, and our work has always extended into the practical execution required to drive performance," said Nick Leopard, Founder & CEO of Accordion.

"FCM brings additional operational depth from leaders who have run and transformed businesses. Their operator-led team augments our existing performance improvement capabilities and broadens the ways we help clients unlock value across the entire operating model. This strengthens what we already do and expands our ability to influence the operational areas that most directly determine a company's trajectory… and its value."

Leopard framed the deal as part of a longer-term effort to assemble a broad value creation platform for private equity clients. Accordion has expanded through internal investment and acquisitions over recent years as private equity firms focus more on portfolio company operations.

The firm describes its approach as data-, technology- and AI-led. It has built services around analytics, forecasting and performance dashboards for sponsors and management teams that seek greater transparency on trading, cash and margin trends in portfolio companies.

The addition of FCM is intended to increase Accordion's role on the operational side of those programmes. FCM's teams typically work alongside management in portfolio companies on cost structures, process redesign and efficiency measures that support investment theses.

Mitchell Habib, Founder of FCM, will join Accordion and take a role in the development of its performance improvement platform.

"Performance improvement works best when it's guided by people who have lived the complexity of running businesses," said Mitchell Habib, Founder of FCM, who will be joining Accordion to help guide the continued evolution of its Performance Improvement platform. "Accordion's data-, technology-, and AI-powered capabilities strengthen the operator-first approach that has defined FCM. Together, we can deliver the level of impact sponsors and management teams expect in their most critical value creation moments."

Private equity owners have placed rising pressure on portfolio companies as deal-making cycles shorten and financing markets fluctuate. Sponsors have also increased their use of in-house operating teams and external consultants with both financial and operational expertise.

Accordion said the combination with FCM reflects its construction of a single platform that covers financial, operational and transformational work for private equity-backed businesses. The firm positions this approach as a response to sponsor demands for closer alignment between investment cases and delivery on the ground.

Operational improvement mandates that bring together finance and operations expertise have become more common in recent years. Sponsors often expect such programmes to run from pre-deal diligence through post-close integration and into longer-term growth or margin expansion initiatives.

Andrew Hede, President of Business Transformation and Transactions at Accordion, said sponsors were asking for broader interventions at portfolio companies.

"Today's sponsors need a partner capable of influencing performance across an organization, not just within the finance function," said Hede. "By integrating FCM's deep operational expertise with our existing hands-on approach, we expand the impact we can have across the business. Together, we strengthen our position as the partner private equity turns to when value creation truly needs to happen."

Accordion plans further development of its combined performance improvement and transformation offering as private equity sponsors continue to emphasise speed and certainty in value creation.