Mellon HR Sale Imminent

Industry sources indicate that a deal to sell Mellon's HR consulting and outsourcing practice is imminent. The buyer will likely be either ACS or Convergys. IBM reportedly considered the acquisition, but decided against pursuing it. New and more formidable competitors are emerging from HR BPO consolidation, with more to come. "Today's market activity represents the intersection of opportunity for both IT consultancies and traditional HR firms," notes Derek Smith, the Director of Research with Kennedy Information.

Market changes began when IBM acquired a portion of PwC Consulting's HR business and Mercer acquired mid-market HR outsourcing firm Synhrgy. Now, among the more recent changes are Aon's alliance with CSC, Hewitt's acquisition of Exult and partnership with Capgemini, and EDS' acquisition of 85% of Towers Perrin's HR BPO operations.

To toot my own horn for a minute: I called ACS as a potential buyer back on February 1st.