Has anybody heard any news about Accenture possibly being a takeover target?

bs

don't you mean bp?:-)

I heard MCG was thinking about adding it to their portfolio

Could it be Microsoft? Would be get a miccenture?

There are not many firms with pockets deep enough, IBM got PWC Cons and HP got EDS I don't think anyone else could afford ACN.

I am voting for a bailout by the UK government, leading to nationalising Accenture.

Would make more sense to carve out the consulting or services businesses - can't really see anyone out there with the stomach to swallow ACN whole. Think what swallowing KPMG has done for ATOS - it took ages to digest, and they were nowhere near this big. Doubt even IBM could do it.On the subject of takeovers, my money is on one of the big cash rich market research firms looking to make a tier 1 or 2 strat house acquisition.

why would anyone want to buy it anyway? what would they do with it?

microsoft only cares about yahoo at the moment.i would bet on cisco taking it on. they have $30 billion in cash reserves. hp and ibm only have 14 each. if cisco want to compete in the server market with them, then why not in the services market too?

Cisco? Interesting.You know, you could be on to something there. They never even crossed my mind...

Me neither: Cisco would make complete sense though and be big enough to do it.

Nonsense ! Cisco doesn't compete in the server market with HP and IBM and what value would it be for a networking behemoth to buy an SI company. The infrastructure space that cisco inhabit is about 10% of what ACN so why would they waste all that money on something they can't use.

Its more likely that Cisco will buy Sun Microsystems as this compliments their business !

I haven't heard any news about accenture takeover but think its unlikely because:-They're big, limits the number of people who could afford to make such a move.-Any merger/integration activities are going to be hugely complex and expensive due to ACN's multi-national structure.-Highly diverse client base with a number of services offered, therefore any big player won't be buying them for exposure to market X or service Y-ACN culture is very strong, integrating large consulting arms is difficult enough (think IBM and PWC) but with ACN probably near nigh impossible.-Not sure if ACN want to be brought!Just my 2 cents worth.

From <b>http://newsroom.cisco.com/dlls/2009/prod_022409.html</b>"Accenture and Cisco Expand Strategic Alliance to Form Innovative Group to Help Companies Increase Business AgilityBoth companies team to design, build and run new collaboration and infrastructure solutions that enhance business process efficiency"

I can&apos;t see it happening. I&apos;d think more likely Accenture will continue to acquire smaller consulting firms who offer niche skillsets to add to their own (e.g George Group example)

Last anon - George Group&apos;s reputation was already on the slide in the Lean Six Sigma space before being taken over. Now they&apos;ve lost most of the specialist skills they did have by being absorbed into Accenture.I hope for their sake that kind of acquisition is not the business plan for the future.

This strikes me as unlikely. ACN&apos;s current market cap is around $18bn - so assuming you&apos;d need a fair premium (even a slim one) you&apos;re talking about a bid price of $20bn plus. With debt markets like they are it would almost certainly have to be a cash or cash/shares deal - which looks (as someone has already pointed out) beyond the pale of IBM or HP. Even for Cisco it would represent a MASSIVE percentage of their cash reserves, which, plus the integration costs, would make such a deal prohibitive if they want to be left with any decent level of cash buffer to ride out the next 18 months - 2 years. As we&apos;re likely to see some reduced ICT hardware spending Cisco will want to keep cash reserves high.Plus, I don&apos;t really see the synergy value in the deal. If anything, they may be tempted to sell off their "Management Consulting" arm. For quite a while it&apos;s struck me that they&apos;d be selling from a stronger point if their MGMT Consulting image wasn&apos;t tainted by their reputation for selling Sys Integration.

There are still people from the old GG business at ACN floating around on old GG contracts, while apparently ACN seem to be stalling on giving them full ACN contracts. Quite a few on the bench too, from what I&apos;ve heard from sources... for anyone thinking of taking the leap into that part of the business think twice - frankly there are better operational firms you could go to right now.I&apos;m putting my money on Tom&apos;s analysis though - I suspect within a year we will see serious talk about a split between consulting and SI, and of course a lot of comparisons with the Arthur Andersen/Andersen Consulting debacle.

Personally I&apos;ve always wondered if this was why ATS was set up as a subsidiary: to be the SI business while "mainline" ACN got on with MC work. In reality it doesn&apos;t seem to work like that at all, of course, with SI being split across the business.

Is this the MCG you referring to as in Mgt Consulting Group? If it is, I don&apos;t think MCG&apos;s pocket is deep enough. MCG&apos;s most profitable subsidary - Proudfoot, is shredding heads and has closed it&apos;s Asian offices.

I don&apos;t think a consulting/SI split is likely. As previous posters have said, the businesses are indivisible. Unlike Booz & Co/Booz Allen Hamilton, ACN doesn&apos;t have the same benefits to realise through separation. Booz had two reputations (in the public and private sector respectively) worth salvaging by separating its businesses and focussing each more tightly - ACN trades on its uniformity and "bog-standardness". Booz had effectively separate business units - ACN consulting work is dependent upon SI projects.

hmmm....I&apos;m not sure. I think splitting off ACN MGMT Consulting and S&IT has both ups and downs.On the upside, a lot of people have worries about the impartiality of the MGMT consulting...it seems obvious they&apos;d &apos;prescribe&apos; their own services, even if they weren&apos;t ideal advice for the client. Separation would solve this and allow Accenture to pitch their MGMT consulting at a purely advisory level (not quite MBBB but at least aspiring).On the downside, as many of you have pointed out ACN rely on being a "full-service", all under one roof type of firm and separation would almost certainly reduce the MGMT client list.Swings. Round-a-bouts. You get the point.

Acqusition / Divestment both relatively unlikely. The IBM / PwC story highlights risk of value destruction from an (eg) Microsoft acquisition of ACN. And since our multiples are excellent for the sector, if you wanted to buy a full service consulting / SI outfit you could create more value somewhere else. Chance of divestment equally low for now (2-3 years) ... the workgroups do support each other pretty well across the main accounts. But given how much headcount has grown anything is possible in 2-3 years - especially if one part of the business starts cross subsidising another a la AC / AA.