PWC selger rådgivingsvirksomhet med 220 ansatte

PwC, the consulting and auditing firm, is selling off parts of its consulting business to local partners. The majority of the sale involves subsidiaries outside of Oslo, according to a press release. A new consulting firm with approximately 220 employees will be established, with offices in Sandefjord, Kristiansand, Bergen, Stavanger, Trondheim, Tromsø, and Oslo.

This transaction follows PwC's sale of parts of its business to investment firm IK Partners just a year ago. The new firm will provide consulting services to both private and public sectors. It was also noted that as a standalone company outside of PwC's network, the employees will not be subject to the independence limitations related to audits.

Ole Schei Martinsen, who will lead the new firm, stated that they aim to build a lean and competitive consulting firm with strong local roots and national depth of expertise. Meanwhile, 40 positions within PwC will be affected by these moves, mostly tied to "individual team and support functions." The press release explained that automation, new technology, centralization, and additional services from the PwC network allow for the efficient resolution of multiple tasks.

The sale is seen as a necessary step to adapt the business model to the new era while strengthening the investment capacity for the future. PWC Norway's head, Thomas Fraurud, remarked that this will provide PwC with a "clearer national and scalable model, aimed at larger and prioritized customers and industries." The result of the sale will result in two companies: one remaining with PwC and one being sold.

PwC's Cato Kaasa, a partner and leader of Consulting, stated that this change is part of a broader strategic adjustment to stand stronger in a market driven by rapid technology development, changing customer expectations, and the need for greater scalability. He also mentioned that they will consolidate their strong consulting environment at offices in Oslo, Bergen, and Trondheim, and utilize technology, alliances, and delivery capacity from the PwC network more systematically.

This will enable them to better deliver relevant services to larger customers across the country, according to Kaasa.