Alvarez & Marsal (A&M) has further strengthened its European Restructuring practice and suite of corporate transformation services by welcoming two senior restructuring partners from KPMG and EY respectively.
Paul Kirkbright joins A&M to head up the Creditor Advisory Services team across EMEA. He brings more than 20 years’ experience, covering a wide range of sectors including oil and gas, retail, travel & leisure, infrastructure, technology, construction and manufacturing. As the Global Head of Financial Restructuring at KPMG, he advised stakeholders in stressed and distressed situations on over 40 transactions, with debts in excess of €50 billion.
Joining from EY, Ben Cairns takes the role of a Managing Director within A&M’s Restructuring practice in London. He has 16 years of experience advising boards and stakeholders in consensual and non-consensual restructurings and acting as officeholder in restructuring situations. Mr. Cairns has wide-ranging industry expertise and brings deep understanding of financial services as an appointment taker for banks and insurance companies in run-off. In his previous role, he acted as a leader of the Financial Services Restructuring team in the UK and Ireland.
A&M is rapidly growing in response to regulatory and audit rotation requirements that are challenging the traditional accountancy and consulting firms. Earlier this year, five senior KPMG partners joined the firm to expand its Restructuring and Corporate Performance Improvement practices.
Commenting on the appointments, Richard Fleming, Head of European Restructuring at A&M said: “This is an important step in our journey to become the “go-to” restructuring firm in the UK and Europe. Paul and Ben’s extensive experience, particularly in handling cross-border restructuring cases that have involved inventive solutions across a number of jurisdictions, will be invaluable to our clients. As we continue to grow, we expect that other leading industry practitioners will also recognize the opportunities that an independent firm such as A&M can offer.”
Kirkbright has acted on several cases during his career that have led to developments in restructuring practice. For Rodenstock, a German manufacturer of eyewear, an English Scheme of Arrangement was used for the first time to restructure a wholly German business. Other situations he has advised on include Enquest, First Oil and KCA Deutag in the UK, APR Energy in the UK and USA, Dubai World and Drydocks World in the UAE and Paroc and Ovako in Finland and Sweden respectively.
Cairns’ experience includes being an Administrator of the UK part of the Icelandic banking group Kaupthing Singer & Friedlander, overseeing collection of property and corporate and private banking loan books. For The Home Insurance Company, Mr Cairns acted as Provisional Liquidator and Scheme Administrator, working closely alongside US office holders in developing and paying out from this innovative reinsurance asset sharing scheme. He has also been involved in the Card Protection Plan redress scheme as joint Scheme Administrator and among a number of significant German restructurings, Speymill Deutsche Immobilien Company as Administrative Receiver.
Kirkbright is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW). Mr Cairns is a member of the ICAEW, a licensed insolvency practitioner and sits on the ICAEW Council, the senior oversight body of the Institute, and its Insolvency Technical Committee.