Deloitte dips back into market with dual acquisition

Following its failed attempt to buy out German consultancy Roland Berger in November, Deloitte dipped back into the pick-up market over the weekend; the Big Four firm announced Friday that it had successfully acquired both Altos Management Partners and MarketPoint, an Altos sister company.

Altos Management Partners is a small consultancy that works primarily with clients in the energy sector. While the acquisition will indeed deepen Deloitte's consulting expertise in that sector—the firm cites Altos' knowledge of oil, gas, refinery products, electricity and coal as benefits of the purchase—the real prize in the pick-up is MarketBuilder, MarketPoint's proprietary "analytic suite for energy market modeling and price forecasting." So while former Altos consultants will provide the advisory services, data-generator MarketBuilder will get much of the credit; a visit to Altos' former web address, which now directs visitors to a tidy new Deloitte MarketPoint landing page, reveals as much.

Deloitte MarketPoint will join the rest of the firm's energy-based service line at the Deloitte Center for Energy Solutions. There, the new group will be managed by Andy Dunn, longtime Deloitte partner. The Altos and MarketPoint acquisition "will allow Deloitte to provide the energy industry with decision support solutions, including MarketBuilder, its models and data, in addition to consulting services," he said. Also joining Dunn's management team is MarketPoint founder Dale Nesbitt, Ph. D., a research consultant with an impressive history of forecasting energy metrics.

The MarketBuilder software analyzes energy sector price points (specific to region and commodity) and predicts changes in supply and demand. Deloitte consultants will now customize and apply the off-the-shelf solution to "energy and resources companies of all varieties."

For more information:
Deloitte Expands Energy Analytics Capabilities with Acquisition
Deloitte MarketPoint