Audit and consulting firm KPMG said on Thursday it will combine the transaction and risk advisory practice of BMR Advisors with itself to strengthen its offerings in the merger and acquisition, corporate finance and risk consulting businesses.
As part of the deal, 12 partners and 100 professionals from BMR will move to KPMG, the buyer said in a statement.
The announcement comes within a week of Deloitte India taking over BMR Advisors’ entire tax practice. It also comes barely months after law firm Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co hired over 30 lawyers from BMR Legal in one of the biggest instances of poaching in the legal space.
Arun M Kumar, chairman and CEO at KPMG in India, said in the statement that the combined domain expertise of the two firms will significantly enhance KPMG’s impact in the Indian market.
Rohit Berry, who leads the M&A practice at BMR, will join KPMG as deputy head of deal advisory. BMR co-founder and partner Sanjay Mehta, who leads the risk and business advisory practice, will join KPMG as a senior adviser and will support the firm on key strategic initiatives.
Berry said KPMG provides the right platform for the BMR team to grow professionally and increase their impact on clients. “For instance, KPMG’s large base of Japanese companies fits with the strengths of the BMR M&A team; jointly we will be best equipped to meet the needs of Japanese businesses in India,†he added.
Neither KPMG nor Deloitte have disclosed any financial details of the deals. However, a person close to the development said that the two firms are shelling out around Rs 250 crore collectively, including upfront bonuses and other perks, on these transactions.
BMR Advisors was started by Bobby Parikh, Mukesh Butani and Rajeev Dimri. Parikh and Dimri are chartered accountants by training. Butani, a lawyer by qualification, is also the founder of law firm BMR Legal.
Both Butani and Parikh previously worked with auditing firm Arthur Andersen. Dimri, who led the indirect tax practice at BMR, will join Deloitte. Parekh and Butani are the only left from the original team.
