Huron Consulting Group to Acquire Blue Stone International

Oracle OpenWorld 2013

CHICAGO--()--Huron Consulting Group Inc. (NASDAQ: HURN), a leading provider of business consulting services, today announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire the assets of Blue Stone International, LLC, a provider of Oracle professional services supporting enterprise performance management, information management and business intelligence solutions.

"Blue Stone is a highly respected Oracle Platinum Partner with a strong track record of growth built on providing integrated solutions to address clients’ complex decision-support needs. Our respective areas of expertise are complementary, and our cultures and management styles are well matched,” said James H. Roth, chief executive officer and president, Huron Consulting Group. "The acquisition will supplement our value-driven offerings within the higher education and healthcare markets, and enhance Blue Stone’s ability to continue to serve the office of the CFO across a diverse set of industries.”

“We are excited to join Huron and expand our CFO centric service capabilities to offer companies a comprehensive and integrated solution to both their business intelligence and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) needs,” said Jay Laabs, managing director and founder, Blue Stone International. “Huron and Blue Stone share a common set of values, and when we combine forces we will be able to expand our relationships with existing and new clients.”

Blue Stone was founded by professionals with deep expertise in Oracle’s Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) technologies, corporate finance, and consulting. The firm’s focus is on helping Chief Financial Officers better understand their businesses, which has fostered steady growth of Blue Stone’s client base and revenue over the past eight years. When the company becomes a part of Huron, the Blue Stone team will continue providing business intelligence capabilities, advisory services and analytic solutions to the C-Suite, including strategic modeling, budgeting, forecasting and other business analytic services. The business offering will strengthen Huron’s existing work in this same space within higher education and healthcare, and also serve as a platform for growth in other industries such as banking, hospitality, insurance, oil and gas, real estate, retail, and utilities.

Blue Stone is a Platinum-level Oracle® Partner and along with Huron will be participating at the upcoming Oracle OpenWorld Conference in San Francisco from September 22 - 26.

The acquisition is expected to close in early October and will result in approximately 100 Blue Stone professionals joining Huron. Along with Jay Laabs, the following individuals will join the Company as managing directors: Scott Leshinski, Jeff Radtke and Rich Schmitt.

Under the terms of the agreement, Huron will acquire the assets of Blue Stone for $30 million in cash. The acquisition, which is subject to certain customary closing conditions, is anticipated to be accretive to Huron’s revenue and EBITDA in 2014. For reporting purposes, Blue Stone will be included in the Huron Education and Life Sciences segment, which includes the Company’s Oracle ERP services practice. The combined Oracle team will continue to serve clients in higher education and other industries.

About Huron Consulting Group

Huron Consulting Group helps clients in diverse industries improve performance, reduce costs, leverage technology, process and review large amounts of complex data, address regulatory changes, recover from distress and stimulate growth. Our professionals employ their expertise in administration, management, finance, operations, strategy, business intelligence and technology to provide our clients with specialized analyses and customized advice and solutions that are tailored to address each client's particular challenges and opportunities to deliver sustainable and measurable results. The Company provides consulting services to a wide variety of both financially sound and distressed organizations, including healthcare organizations, leading academic institutions, Fortune 500 companies, governmental entities and law firms. Huron has worked with more than 95 of the top 100 research universities, more than 400 corporate general counsel, and more than 385 hospitals and academic medical centers. Learn more at www.huronconsultinggroup.com.

Statements in this press release that are not historical in nature, including those concerning the Company’s current expectations about its future requirements and needs, are “forward-looking” statements as defined in Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”) and the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are identified by words such as “may,” “should,” “expects,” “provides,” “anticipates,” “assumes,” “can,” “will,” “meets,” “could,” “likely,” “intends,” “might,” “predicts,” “seeks,” “would,” “believes,” “estimates,” “plans” or “continues.” These forward-looking statements reflect our current expectations about our future requirements and needs, results, levels of activity, performance, or achievements, including, without limitation, current expectations with respect to, among other factors, utilization rates, billing rates, and the number of revenue-generating professionals; that we are able to expand our service offerings; that we successfully integrate the businesses we acquire; and that existing market conditions continue to trend upward. These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, including, among others, those described under “Item 1A. Risk Factors” in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2012 that may cause actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from any anticipated results, levels of activity, performance or achievements expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. We disclaim any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements as a result of new information or future events, or for any other reason.

Contacts

Huron Consulting Group Inc.
Media Contact:
Jennifer Frost Hennagir, 312-880-3260
jfrost-hennagir@huronconsultinggroup.com
or
Investor Contact:
C. Mark Hussey
or
Ellen Wong
312-583-8722
investor@huronconsultinggroup.com

Release Summary

Huron Consulting Group to Acquire Blue Stone International

Contacts

Huron Consulting Group Inc.
Media Contact:
Jennifer Frost Hennagir, 312-880-3260
jfrost-hennagir@huronconsultinggroup.com
or
Investor Contact:
C. Mark Hussey
or
Ellen Wong
312-583-8722
investor@huronconsultinggroup.com