Alvarez & Marsal (A&M), a US-based advisory firm known for its turnaround and restructuring related practices, has launched the corporate finance and commercial due diligence practices in India to expand its operations.
It has also appointed Vikram Utamsingh, who is currently the managing director and head of the India transactions advisory group, as co-head while Nandini Chopra and Manish Saigal have been appointed as MD of corporate finance and commercial due diligence, respectively. Both Nandini and Saigal will be based in Mumbai.
The commercial due diligence team will help clients identify and analyse market opportunities in a competitive private equity deal environment.
Nandini, who joined A&M from KPMG India, has over two decades of experience in M&A, sales and divestitures, JV advisory, PE, IPOs, debt syndication and valuations. At KPMG, she was a partner in KPMG corporate finance where she led M&A transactions in the consumer and retail sectors. She was also the head of their valuations practice.
Saigal has more than 17 years of experience in strategy consulting, PE and M&A advisory projects and specialises in providing advice on strategy formulation, business feasibility & planning, strategic and commercial due diligence, integration & separation advisory, bid advisory and economic studies. Prior to joining A&M, he led the global strategy group (GSG) at KPMG India.
“The new appointments reflect Alvarez & Marsal’s commitment to the Indian market and to partnering with our clients to provide them top professional talent and action-oriented results. Vikram, Nandini and Manish bring in-depth knowledge of the region coupled with breadth of proven expertise in the areas of operational performance improvement and commercial due diligence and will play a pivotal role in expanding A&M’s presence in India," said Sankar Krishnan, managing director and co-head, A&M India.
Utamsingh had joined A&M last year to lead its transaction advisory business. He was previously KPMG India's head of transactions and restructuring and also led its private equity industry group.
While globally Alvarez & Marsal has worked on high profile distress situations like Lehman Brothers’ bankruptcy, in India it has been focusing on helping private equity firms improve operating efficiencies of their portfolio companies.
The firm set up operations in India around five years ago and has worked with companies like textile firm OCM India, which is owned by WL Ross & Co.
(Edited by Joby Puthuparampil Johnson)
