Why Accenture (ACN) Is Buying Zestgroup

By Amit Chowdhry • Dec 16, 2021
  • Accenture (NYSE: ACN) announced it has acquired Zestgroup. This is why it happened.

Accenture (NYSE: ACN) announced it has acquired Zestgroup, a services firm specializing in energy transitions, net carbon-zero projects, and procurement of renewables. The terms of the deal were undisclosed.

Zestgroup brings industry knowledge, project expertise, and market regulation experience into helping organizations move to net-zero. And these capabilities enhance Accenture’s ability to build more trusted, circular, and net-zero value chains while driving social and economic benefits for all stakeholders.

The International Energy Agency reports that renewables will soon generate as much electricity as fossil fuels, organizations must move faster to convert existing practices into those that make use of sustainable clean energy sources. And Zestgroup supports this transition to sustainable energy sources, such as solar, water, heat, wind and biogas, and helps clients achieve net-zero carbon. The combination of these services with Accenture’s SynOps platform will provide Accenture with the ability to leverage insights to help clients extract greater value out of existing investments and accelerate their sustainability journey.

Based in the Netherlands, Zestgroup brings over 120 professionals to Accenture Operations with clients in a variety of sectors and deep expertise across energy transition and reconciliation, supplier market regulations, renewable spending category, and project and procurement services. And it also provides spend optimization services to help organizations better manage sustainability spending and energy reconciliation services to better optimize claim settlements across the energy value chain.

KEY QUOTES:

“By combining years of deep industry expertise and capabilities, Zestgroup advances our ability to help clients move faster in achieving their carbon emission objectives. A sustainable future relies on organizations moving faster to transition ways of working to those that make greater use of sustainable clean energy sources.”

— Nicole van Det, country managing director of Accenture Netherlands

“Creating a sustainable future will be defined by those that create value faster and maximize the impact of those investments. We’re delighted to welcome Zestgroup to our team, adding significant expertise to our procurement business while extending our ability to deliver on our promise to embed sustainability into everything we do and with everyone we work with.”

— Manish Sharma, group chief executive of Accenture Operations

“Growing our business as part of Accenture will translate into new opportunities for our people and our combined expertise will help our clients move faster and smarter as they realize the benefits that emerge from a net-zero journey.”

— Ramon van der Wal, chief executive officer of Zestgroup