The Brits finally threw in the towel. After several years of working diligently to make a go of the US TPA market, Xchanging cut its losses, selling what used to be known as Cambridge Integrated Services to Sedgwick for a price rumored to be in the low tens of millions.
Cambridge had been on a slow but steady downward spiral for some time, losing clients, adjusting talent, and revenues and failing to land much, if any new business. According to folks who had worked there, there was a good-faith effort on the part of Xchanging to reshape Cambridge’s adjusting process into a more…Continental model, including changing workspaces to open tables. This didn’t go over so well, helping to add to the talent loss.
With this latest deal, Sedgwick further elevates itself above the rest of the TPA pack. Notably, the deal includes a settlement services entity, yet another vendor Sedgwick will add to its portfolio. It also removes a potential competitor, although as noted above, Cambridge wasn’t too much of a threat of late.
Here’s hoping the folks left behind at Cambridge find the transition a good one, and their futures brighter than they were yesterday.
Insight, analysis & opinion from Joe Paduda