Citizens Financial : Advises Strive Consulting on its Acquisition by The Planet Group

01/11/2022

PROVIDENCE, RI - Citizens M&A Advisory announced today that it served as the exclusive financial advisor to Strive Consulting, a leading IT staffing and consulting firm based in Chicago, on its acquisition by The Planet Group, a professional services organization also based in Chicago.

Strive Consulting is a leading provider of business and technology staffing and consulting services across three core areas - Management Consulting, Technology Enablement and Data & Analytics. Strive's national footprint consists of offices located in Chicago, Columbus, Dallas, Atlanta, Minneapolis and Charlotte.

Brian Ganser, chief executive officer of Strive Consulting, said: "We evaluated a number of investment banking firms as we started the process, and Citizens stood out from the crowd. It was clear that they understood our business, our goals and the professional services industry. Their guidance, expertise and responsiveness throughout the process were invaluable and ultimately helped us identify the ideal partner in The Planet Group."

Don Holbrook, managing director at Citizens, said: "Strive Consulting is a high-growth consulting firm with deep expertise in cloud and data & analytics. Their reputation for excellent service and the leadership team in place will drive more growth in the years to come. We are excited to have found such a great partner in Planet Group as the combined business continues to grow."

Citizens M&A Advisory specializes in middle-market mergers and acquisitions. Citizens combines sector intelligence with a client-focused approach to realize our clients' true value. The Citizens team has more than 130 M&A professionals specializing in a range of industries across the United States. Citizens M&A Advisory is part of Citizens Capital Markets, Inc., a subsidiary of Citizens Financial Group (NYSE: CFG).

About Citizens Financial Group, Inc.
Citizens Financial Group, Inc. is one of the nation's oldest and largest financial institutions, with $187.0 billion in assets as of September 30, 2021. Headquartered in Providence, Rhode Island, Citizens offers a broad range of retail and commercial banking products and services to individuals, small businesses, middle-market companies, large corporations and institutions. Citizens helps its customers reach their potential by listening to them and by understanding their needs in order to offer tailored advice, ideas and solutions. In Consumer Banking, Citizens provides an integrated experience that includes mobile and online banking, a 24/7 customer contact center and the convenience of approximately 3,000 ATMs and approximately 1,000 branches in 11 states in the New England, Mid-Atlantic and Midwest regions. Consumer Banking products and services include a full range of banking, lending, savings, wealth management and small business offerings. In Commercial Banking, Citizens offers a broad complement of financial products and solutions, including lending and leasing, deposit and treasury management services, foreign exchange, interest rate and commodity risk management solutions, as well as loan syndication, corporate finance, merger and acquisition, and debt and equity capital markets capabilities.

More information is available at www.citizensbank.com or visit us on Twitter, LinkedIn or Facebook.

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