Integrating US firm Accordion Merilytics opened a 1,500-seat office in Hyderabad

Pawan Chaudhary, Head of Global Data and Analytics Practice at Accordion and Founder of Merilytics Photo credit: By arrangement

New York-headquartered private equity client-focused financial advisory firm Accordion has completed its merger with Hyderabad-based data analytics company Merilytics and opened a new, 1,500-seater office here.

“We have completed our integration and are now a fully functional part of Accordion,” said Pawan Chaudhary, head of Accordion’s global data and analytics practice and founder of Merilytics, in a recent interaction with 850 employees at the new office.

The acquisition of Merilytics in May 2023 means Accordion will gain access to data analytics capabilities, which until then worked on a co-executing or sub-contracting basis with third-party D&A vendors. Merilytics, whose headcount was around 550 people at the time of the acquisition, brought on board not only core competence but years of track record. Since the data analytics practice of the erstwhile Hyderabad unit also includes a private equity (PE) focus, the acquisition paves the way for Accordion to access a much larger platform and access Accordion as it works with several PE firms, he said. Accordion’s headcount is 1400, including 850 here.

For the US firm, the integration of data analytics capabilities has translated into increasing its competitive edge in the PE space by combining financial and operational expertise with cutting-edge analytics for CFOs. Critical insights are generated through AI/Gen AI, advanced data technologies, value creation analytics, data management and reporting solutions.

A clutch of solutions was launched in 2024, along with Accordion’s existing practices to go to market from a data analytics perspective, Mr Chaudhary said, indicating the scope of additional work for Accordion’s launch operations in the UK from the Hyderabad centre. September and evaluating other markets for attack. On plans to boost recruitment, he said a new office in Hyderabad was opened in August as part of a strategy to consolidate operations and all 1,500 seats will be filled by 2026.

About the Hyderabad facility’s contribution to Accordion’s revenue, he said it would be in the range of 10%-15% with a good chunk of it coming after the merger last year. The plan is to remain critical to Parent’s operations and emerge as a key player in the Accordion ecosystem.

To question the factors behind this growth potential and impact winter fundMr Chaudhary said data analytics has become more important as PE investors focus on value creation in their portfolio companies. “The way people can get out and make more money is to actually increase the overall value of the (portfolio) company because you can’t shift debt and equity at higher interest rates,” he said. Value creation is now the primary lever for private equity to achieve the required returns. This also applies to portfolio companies in terms of delivering better returns to their investors, scenarios where data analytics interventions remain important.

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