Top consulting firms in Brazil for restructuring and turnaround

A new analysis of surveys among clients on track record / engagement satisfaction and management consultants on reputation has identified Brazil’s top consulting firms for restructuring and turnaround services. 

Companies in Brazil facing financial and operational difficulties, including rapidly deteriorating commercial performance, liquidity concerns, loss of key management / clients or refinancing risk, can according to data sourced by Consultancy.lat best place their faith in ten consulting firms specialized in restructuring, turnaround and crisis management. These ten consultancies are: Alvarez & Marsal, FTI Consulting, G5 Evercore, Moelis & Co, Rothschild, KPMG, Laplace Financas, Pantalica Partners and RK Partners.

When companies fall in financial distress, executives need to move swiftly to stabilize the business, while working towards a more long term strategy for sustainable strategic, operational and financial change. Working alongside debtors, lenders, shareholders and other stakeholders, consultants support with solving short-term liquidity requirements and action-planning to quickly preserve value and address potential risks to stability.

With stabilization in place, broader restructuring plans are designed and executed, including activities that enable cost optimization, operational restructuring, improved cash and working capital management and asset / debt restructuring. In the case of (potential) bankruptcy, restructuring consultants work with shareholders, debtors, creditors, regulators and other insolvency stakeholders on executing the administration or bankruptcy process – the procedures differ per country.

In Brazil, the bankruptcy law covers three main proceedings. The first proceeding (‘bankruptcy’) is the actual process of liquidating a company’s assets in order to pay off debts. This involves selling all property and goods to meet the debt’s requirements. The ‘court-ordered restructuring’ proceeding has been put into place to help the company restructure its debts while carrying on its day-to-day operations (only applicable for companies that have been in business for at least two years). The third bankruptcy proceeding, ‘extra-judicial restructuring’, involves a private negotiation between the debtor and the creditor. Restructuring and insolvency consultants typically team up with lawyers to mediate between the two parties – if however no consensus is reached, the judge takes over the process.

Top restructuring consulting firms

Brazil’s list of top consulting for restructuring and turnaround services includes three advisory players that operate globally. Alvarez & Marsal (A&M) is one of the most well-known names in the restructuring landscape, which it for a large part owes much for its key role on the Chapter 11 bankruptcy case of the collapsed banking giant Lehman Brothers. Globally, Alvarez & Marsal has over 3,000 professionals in 50+ offices, including a Latin American presence in Brazil (Rio de Janeiro) and Mexico (Mexico City). Rival FTI Consulting is with a headcount 4,700 employees worldwide larger than A&M. Both consultancies provide a range of management and economic consulting, financial advisory (corporate finance and restructuring) and technology advisory services.

KPMG is one of the Big Four accounting and consulting firms. Its Restructuring & Turnaround practice has over 1,200 professionals worldwide. The Brazilian team operates mainly from the firm’s national hubs in São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Recife, Brasília and Belo Horizonte.

Four of the industry’s top players are local Brazilian consultancies. G5 | Evercore is one of Brazil's largest independent financial advisory services firm, operating bases in São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Recife. Formerly known as Arion Capital, São Paulo-based Laplace Finanças provides a wide range of financial advisory services to private sector and private equity clients, including restructuring and turnaround. Pantalica Partners, also located in São Paulo, has completed more than 70 restructuring engagements in Brazil with a restructured debt value of over $25 billion since inception in 2014. RK Partners specialises exclusively on turnaround and crisis management offerings, and in recent years played a role in the turnaround of among others Bom Bril, Rossi, Bertin Energia and Property Brasil.

Completing the list of Brazil’s best consulting firms for restructuring and turnaround services are the advisory arms of three international investment banks. New York headquartered Moelis & Company was founded in 2007 and today employs over 750 employees in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Australasia. The company serves the Latin America region through its locales in São Paulo and Mexico City. Lazard and Rothschild rank among the globe’s most prestigious investment banks – they both provides financial advisory and asset management services to corporations, governments and non-profit institutions. Lazard was founded in 1848 in the US, while Rothschild – which is owned by the Rothschild family, one of the wealthiest families in modern world history – was established in 1838 and is currently headquartered in Paris, France.

Related: Consulting market of South America grows 4% to $2.6 billion.