KPMG is close to selling its restructuring division to a private equity firm as part of a deal that could see a former head of Deloitte run the newly separated business.
HIG Europe is in exclusive talks to buy the restructuring arm for about £400 million.
If the deal completes, John Connolly, a former global chairman and UK chief executive of Deloitte, has been lined up as a potential chairman to run the standalone business. Connolly, 70, left Deloitte in 2011. He is currently chairman of G4S, the security services group and Slater & Gordon, the law firm.
In November, an email to colleagues from KPMG’s UK chairman and senior partner Bill Michael said that concerns relating to conflicts of interest arising from its existing work were likely to “limit the restructuring clients we can serve and constrain our ability to maximise the growth of this business.”
As a result the Big Four firm decided to sell its restructuring business.
Some 22 of KPMG’s roughly 600 partners work in its restructuring business, alongside 475 staff members.
KPMG has been haemorrhaging contracts in the last year, according to consultancy website Consultancy UK. The giant lost 52 clients in the last year – more than the 17 EY lost, or the 27 Deloitte dropped, combined.
Read more: The Times
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