AnswerThink Consulting Group, Inc.

Business Description
AnswerThink Consulting Group, Inc. (“AnswerThink”) was a provider of technology-enabledbusiness transformation solutions. The company brought together multi-disciplinary expertise in benchmarking and research, business transformation, interactive marketing, packaged business applications, and technology integration to serve the needs of Global 2000 clients. AnswerThink’s solutions spanned all functional areas of companies across a variety of industry sectors, including telecommunications, utilities, automotive, financial services, retail, consumer packaged goods, life sciences, and manufacturing.

Investment Rationale
The decision to invest in AnswerThink was based on the growth in demand for outsourced IT solutions as well as AnswerThink’s strong management team, blue chip list of clients, and aggressive acquisition strategy. In 1997, the worldwide IT services industry was $68 billion and projected to grow to $130 billion by 2002. Near term forecasts projected companies within the industry to achieve as much as 40% annual growth. Given its combination of design/ implementation and business consulting, two disciplines that were historically separate, AnswerThink was particularly well positioned to capitalize on the growing need of companies to upgrade and replace traditional legacy systems with network-based technologies. The company’s management team was comprised of six former KPMG consulting partners, averaging fifteen years of management consulting experience. Additionally, the company had amassed a broad base of Fortune 1000 clients and was successfully executing an aggressive acquisition strategy to gain critical mass and bring oncomplementary service offerings.