WNS (Holdings) Limited (WNS) has acquired The Smart Cube, a leader in platform-driven research and analytics (R&A) focused on procurement and supply chain, and OptiBuy, a leading European provider of procurement platform consulting and implementation solutions. These assets are complementary to WNS’ existing offerings and strengthen the company’s capabilities in both high-end procurement and advanced analytics.
The Smart Cube
Founded in 2003 and headquartered in London, UK, The Smart Cube provides digitally-led market intelligence and analytics solutions. The company’s offerings span four key areas including procurement and supply chain, commercial sales and marketing, digital and analytics, and strategy and investment research. The Smart Cube leverages their proprietary digital AI knowledge management platform called “Amplifi Pro” to help clients drive improved procurement and market intelligence and insight-based decision making. They also bring strong front-end advisory capabilities and a large European footprint to the WNS portfolio. The company has over 800 global employees including a seasoned leadership team with CXO-level relationships, and more than 600 talented R&A specialists with approximately 2/3 holding a Master’s degree. The acquisition of The Smart Cube was completed today. Consideration for the transaction is $125.0 million including up-front payment and expected earn-outs, and excludes adjustments for cash, debt, and working capital. Based on The Smart Cube’s revenue generated in calendar 2022, the acquisition is expected to add approximately $9 million to WNS’ net revenue* in fiscal 2023, and to be dilutive by $0.01 to WNS’ fiscal 2023 adjusted diluted earnings per share**.
Gautam Singh, Founder and CEO of The Smart Cube, said, “The Smart Cube is proud to become part of WNS, an industry leader in global Business Process Management. Both of our firms share a common philosophy of partnering and growing with clients, and believe our businesses continue to have huge growth opportunities ahead,” “Over the last 20 years, we have built a strong business based on delivering value for our clients leveraging our unique AI+HI (artificial intelligence + human intelligence) methodology. We are delighted to now join WNS in the next phase of our growth journey.”
OptiBuy
Founded in 2010 and headquartered in Warsaw, Poland, OptiBuy is a leading European provider of procurement platform consulting and implementation solutions. The company helps clients leverage the capabilities of leading 3rd party procurement and supply chain platforms including Ivalua, Jaggaer, and O9, and complements WNS’ existing offerings with platforms such as Coupa and Ariba. In addition, OptiBuy also provides consulting, optimization, outsourcing, and training services to their clients. Currently focused on the EMEA market, the company has approximately 90 employees including more than 40 senior-level certified platform implementation professionals based in Poland. WNS views expansion of these capabilities into the North American market as a significant opportunity. The acquisition of OptiBuy was completed on December 14, 2022. Consideration for the transaction is €30.0 million including up-front payment and expected earn-outs, and excludes adjustments for cash, debt, and working capital. Based on OptiBuy’s revenue generated in calendar 2022, the acquisition is expected to add approximately $2 million to WNS’ net revenue* in fiscal 2023, and to be neutral to WNS’ fiscal 2023 adjusted diluted earnings per share**.
“On behalf of the entire team at OptiBuy, we are excited to become part of WNS and believe that the combination of our two firms will enable the creation of differentiated, end-to-end digital procurement and supply chain solutions for the global marketplace,” said Mateusz Borowiecki, Managing Director of OptiBuy. “We look forward to building on the capabilities we have created over the past 12 years and working with the WNS team as we help clients leverage digital technologies to drive long-term business value.”
WNS has funded the up-front payments for these acquisitions with a combination of cash on hand and £83 million of long-term debt.
“Both of these companies possess unique, digitally-led/human intelligence capabilities which are complementary to WNS’ existing procurement and analytics offerings, and are also complementary with each other. The Smart Cube and OptiBuy bring experienced leadership teams, highly specialized resources, and differentiated technology offerings to the WNS portfolio. These companies also have blue-chip customer bases with extensive cross-selling opportunities, and proven track records of delivering strong top line growth, healthy margins, and high levels of customer satisfaction. We believe that The Smart Cube and OptiBuy will significantly enhance our WNS-Denali (procurement) and WNS-Triange (analytics) solutions, and help accelerate our positioning and growth in these strategic areas. On behalf of myself and the entire WNS team, we are excited to welcome the talented teams of The Smart Cube and OptiBuy to the WNS family,” said Keshav R. Murugesh, WNS’ Chief Executive Officer.
