Alvarez & Marsal (A&M) is opening a new office in Edinburgh and expanding its existing one in Glasgow.
The professional services firm is bringing a new restructuring team to the Scottish market, aiming to tailor its advisory services more locally.
The team will be run by Ben Cairns, a managing director who has been with A&M since 2017. He has more than 20 years’ experience advising boards and stakeholders in restructuring situations. Prior to joining A&M, Cairns spent 23 years with EY, where he was partner, leading teams in the core restructuring practice.
He is planning to grow the Scotland-based restructuring team to 20 practitioners over the coming months.
Cairns said: “Businesses across Scotland are under growing pressure as challenges mount - supply chain disruption, inflation and the rising cost of capital are combining to frustrate business plans, following hot on the heels of the market turmoil of the pandemic.
“A&M is well-placed to help businesses navigate this new context.”
Cairns will be joined by new hires in October. Among them, Kevin Lamb has been appointed as a senior director and will be based in the Edinburgh office, while Roddy McKellar will join as a director in Glasgow.
Lamb moves from being a restructuring director at BDO, with experience advising company leaders and boards on business disposals, debt restructuring and turnaround strategies, while McKellar was previously a senior manager at PwC.
A&M’s restructuring capabilities will complement the firm’s existing tax team in Glasgow and is likely to be shortly followed by other service lines.
the firm made its first hire in Scotland in February 2020, when it announced the appointment of Donald Campbell, whose tax team has now grown to 18 advisers.
Mark Firmin, managing director and head of UK regional restructuring, said this is the next step in A&M’s regional expansion.
“Our UK restructuring team has grown significantly in recent months, to meet our clients’ needs and in anticipation of more corporate distress as the economic situation worsens.”
The opening of the Edinburgh office and expansion in Glasgow mean that A&M now has a presence in six cities across the UK, including Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds and London.
Privately held since its founding in 1983, A&M now has more than 6,000 people across four continents.
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