BANGALORE, INDIA: PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) today announced  that it has concluded a transaction to acquire all shares of ECS Limited from its erstwhile owners Eicher Goodearth.

Formerly Eicher Consulting, ECS is a well-known provider of operations and HR consulting services to Indian and global clients. The acquisition will enhance PwC's expertise in the consulting space and supplement its client focused advisory services, especially in the manufacturing and financial services sectors, which are ECS' strengths. 

Commenting on the acquisition, Ramesh Rajan, Chairman, PwC, said: "PwC's consulting services work with companies for transformational consulting and helping businesses deal with the unplanned in a dynamic economic environment. Our gamut of services, from strategy to implementation, often involves consulting on human resources and the management of change. Also, our capabilities in operations excellence and cost reduction, while particularly relevant in current times, are key to helping our clients achieving and retaining global competitiveness.  With ECS' Operations and HR skills and capabilities, PwC can enhance its offering to clients and continue to distinguish our consulting services. We welcome the staff and partners of ECS into the PwC family."

Ashwani Puri, executive director and India leader for Advisory practice said: "This acquisition sits very nicely with our strategy of providing brand-defining consulting services to our clients. ECS will help us accelerate the execution of our plans to build a strong, outcomes-focused, multi-disciplinary consulting business. ECS's strong capabilities in lean management including lean manufacturing and lean services, Six Sigma, cost reduction and people & change management, are very relevant in the current business environment and as Indian businesses transform and globalise more rapidly.  With this acquisition, we are now even better placed to globally service clients of the PwC network of firms." 

The acquisition will add five partners and over 100 consultants, besides valuable intellectual property and key client relationships.