Cadence, a Sydney-headquartered project management consultancy for the property sector, has joined Ernst & Young for an undisclosed sum.
Professional service firm EY will close to double its Real Estate Advisory and Project Management headcount through the acquisition, with 45 Cadence professionals set to join the Big Four firm, including managing director Matthew Gralton and directors Todd Murphy and David Riddell as partners.
“We had been looking for some time to join with a specialist project management provider to enhance our offering to our clients, but it had to be the right people. Cadence is that firm,” said EY real estate practice leader Marco Maldonado.
Established in Sydney at the turn of the century and with a further presence in Brisbane and Melbourne, Cadence offers a wide range of services covering the property development and construction sectors, including in design and asset management, authority approvals, due diligence, commercial negotiations, dispute resolutions, contractor procurement, sustainability, and urban renewal.
“We’ve been considering for some time, how we can continue to grow our business and provide more opportunities for our people, and EY has offered us that and more,” Gralton said. Joining EY gives us access to new skills and expertise to bring to our existing clients and broadens our growth pathways, in terms of the work we can take on, the skills we can develop and the opportunities we can offer to our staff.”
With a headcount of more than 100, EY said the combined entities will create one of the largest independent teams of experts in real estate, project management and urban development advisory in Australia, and will enable the provision on end-to-end support from strategic advice and procurement through to implementation and delivery to assist clients in the smooth running of major projects.
Maldonado added that the acquisition was an exciting one for the existing team. “Cadence will expose us to a whole new skill set and development opportunities that align with future flexibility and unique ways to deliver projects, as well as some of the most interesting projects being undertaken in Australia. And they are a great cultural fit, which is so important at EY.”
Serving both the public and private sector, Cadence’s current projects include the $800 million Stadium Australia redevelopment in Sydney, for which it’s managing the design and delivery, and work on the Sydney Metro’s Integrated Station Developments project. Cadence has also worked on the Barangaroo waterfront development and the Bays Precinct transformation program among many other projects.
Commenting on the deal, EY’s Oceania CEO David Larocca said, “Part of our global strategy at EY is to continue the build-out of a world class transaction capability, and the acquisition of Cadence fits soundly within this strategy. The Cadence team will enhance and broaden our market leading Real Estate Advisory and Project Management capability, enabling future growth.”
For EY, the transaction is the first in Australia since it acquired cybersecurity specialist SecureWorx in the summer of last year, and strategy consultancy Port Jackson Partners the year previous.
Sourced from Consultancy.com.au