FOCUS ON PRGX - Ardian helps data analytics specialist to refocus and grow

Why was partnering with Ardian the right move for PRGX at this point?

Michael Lustig: Our core business is reclaiming overpayments by our clients to their suppliers and making sure they receive all the monies they are entitled to. We have recovered billions of dollars in this way for our customers, but when I re‑joined the company as CEO after the close of the Ardian transaction, it was clear that PRGX needed to reassess its strategy for growth. Ardian and I had a vision for PRGX whereby the company could be ʼright sizedʼ by reducing overheads, while focusing on top‑line growth in all four core business areas: retail, commercial, contract compliance and advanced analytics.

Vincent Fandozzi: PRGX was underperforming, but it had good growth opportunities that we could help to realize. We used Ardian’s access to companies at the top level to help PRGX win major new retail clients in France and Canada. We also introduced Michael to another Ardian portfolio company that works in contract management. More importantly, we are working with Michael to seize on growth opportunities in the analytics and commercial recovery businesses, which are largely underpenetrated.

ML: Winning our new French client was huge for us. Ardian’s help in opening that door was incredibly valuable.

What do you see as the big opportunities for PRGX under Ardian’s ownership?

ML: Vince and his team want to invest in our growth, and they are looking to us for ideas. There is huge potential to expand all of our businesses internationally because we are the only player in our market with people in Europe, Latin America, Asia and Australia. Our fastest growing region today is Latin America.

Todd Welsch: We think PRGX has good opportunities in the commercial market – so, businesses beyond retail – and in advanced analytics. This company has great technology that can process vast amounts of financial data, emails, etc., very quickly and securely. That means it can analyze its clients’ data and generate insights that can help them to run their businesses more efficiently. This opportunity to provide data enrichment opens up an attractive, stable revenue stream. We have seen similar things happen in other tech‑enabled service businesses we have owned, so we believe PRGX can do the same.

How is the strategy progressing over your first year of working together?

ML: We have had some good wins, not only in France but also with major players in the US. Some of the bigger wins have been a continued penetration of our existing clients, where weʼve sold them additional solutions and services – with recovery audit clients starting to use our contract compliance or analytics products. We work with a large number of major companies that already trust us and could use more of the solutions and services we offer.

VF: It is going very well already, and we will start to see the benefits of some of the investments we made in 2021 over the course of this year, such as certain sales and marketing investments we have made. PRGX is going to be an outstanding investment for our fund.

For more stories like this, discover Ardian’s 2021 Annual Report