(Updates with quotes)
By Yousef Saba
DUBAI, April 27 (Reuters) - Advisory and forensic
accounting firm Ankura Consulting said on Thursday it has
launched a turnaround and restructuring practice for the Middle
East out of its Dubai office, as it expects large deal flow in
the region amid growing economic uncertainty.
Several advisory firms have recently set up or expanded
restructuring operations in the region, where companies face
higher borrowing costs after interest rates rose at a rapid clip
amid global concerns about inflation.
Ankura's new practice will be led by Karim Labban, based in
Ankura's Riyadh office that opened last year, and Geraint
Thomas, based in Dubai, the firm said in a statement. Both have
the title of senior managing director.
Labban was previously a turnaround and restructuring partner
at Deloitte and Thomas was executive director for restructuring
and turnaround at Abu Dhabi sovereign investor ADQ, according to
their LinkedIn profiles.
"On the one side you have turnaround and restructuring work
that is coming out of the volatility," Thomas told Reuters.
"But we also on the other side see a lot of performance
improvement and operational restructuring work coming from the
sovereign funds."
Ankura has around 60 employees in the Middle East and will
grow to around 200 in the next two years, Labban said, declining
to say how many people would be hired for the new practice.
"We will build a core senior team in the Middle East this
year. And the idea being that as we get increased mandates,
we'll obviously grow the team in order to meet that demand,"
Thomas said.
Labban said he saw demand in the construction sector
particularly, as well as the industrial sector. The aviation
sector is also an opportunity, though "from a less distressed
perspective," as the sector navigates post-pandemic growth.
(Reporting by Yousef Saba; Editing by Kim Coghill and
Christopher Cushing)
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