Kroll on 'equal terms' with Big Four
Kroll Buchler Phillips expects to be in a position to compete against the Big Four in global company insolvencies following its parent's acquisition of Zolfo Cooper in the US.
KBP’s parent, Kroll, acquired the US turnaround specialist Zolfo Cooper, founded by Stephen F Cooper, who is currently restructuring fallen energy giant Enron as interim chief executive. He became chairman of Kroll’s newly-created corporate advisory and restructuring group.
According to KBP, the acquisition makes the firm the largest independent corporate recovery practice, as it does not have an audit arm and therefore no possible conflicts of interest. It will also give troubled global companies a wider choice.
Simon Freakley, head of the new restructuring group, told Accountancy Age: ‘We are competing on equal terms with the Big Four. We can deal with larger transatlantic restructuring.’
And with the sale of PricewaterhouseCoopers’ US corporate recovery practice to a private consulting firm, the only competition left for KBP on that level is Deloitte & Touche, KPMG and Ernst & Young, all of which have audit arms, explained Freakley. He also said the firm decided to acquire Zolfo Cooper after dealing with a number of large transatlantic insolvencies.