Duff & Phelps Strengthens Strategy to Service Insolvency & Bankruptcy Code Related Mandates

by Shrutee K/DNS

Focus on distressed M&A, process advisory, sell-side advisory services

Acquisition of Kroll to create differentiated capability to assist in Insolvency and Bankruptcy cases through due diligence, forensic and investigations

Mumbai: Duff & Phelps, the global advisor that protects, restores and maximises value, today announced that it will expand its portfolio of services to leverage opportunities presented by the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC). Expanding its leadership in valuation advisory services, Duff & Phelps India will focus on distressed M&A, process advisory and sell-side advisory for distressed companies that are considering the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) route of resolution. Additionally, Duff & Phelps’ recent acquisition of Kroll enhances the company’s due diligence and forensics capabilities, a key success factor in the resolution of IBC cases.

Commenting on the development, Paul Williams, Managing Director, Restructuring - UK, Duff & Phelps said, “Our strategy is differentiated by our ability to bring the wealth of our global credentials in bankruptcy, insolvency and restructuring to India. We believe our international fund network will be a rich vein of investment for IBC cases to drive successful resolution and deliver optimal value back to creditors.” “We work with some of the biggest hedge funds, private equity firms and distressed assets funds across the globe and can assist them on ‘buy’ mandates as part of distressed M&A services. This will be particularly beneficial for pre-NCLT or early-stage NCLT admitted cases,” added Abhishek Pandey, Managing Director, Duff & Phelps.

The company has already executed valuation mandates for six of the twelve largest companies in India as part of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code and has a team of close to 120 people locally working on projects related to the IBC legislation. The company plans to increase this headcount to 200 by next year.

Varun Gupta, Managing Director Duff & Phelps India and Asia Pacific Regional Leader for Valuation Services further added, “Given our strength in valuation and restructuring services globally, we see significant opportunity to act as process advisors on insolvency and bankruptcy cases. Kroll is additionally well positioned in the area of background verification of potential bidders, which is a regulatory requirement under Section 29A of the IBC. Our process advisory capabilities tie in well with Kroll’s strengths in forensic and background verifications and this enables us to provide end to end solutions in IBC cases.”

Ashwini Mehra, Senior Advisor, Duff & Phelps and the resolution professional for Educomp Infrastructure & School Management Limited said, “The interest of global players to participate in   emerging opportunities from distressed assets is expected to increase as the IBC stabilizes and the legal challenges from defaulting promoters gradually peter out.”

Duff & Phelps entered the Indian market with the acquisition of American Appraisal in 2015 and currently has offices in Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru and Hyderabad. Duff & Phelps is a leading global valuation firm and serves some of India’s largest companies across Information technology (IT), IT enabled services (ITeS), Retail, Energy, Healthcare, Manufacturing and Financial Services among others. Duff & Phelps is also a SEBI registered category 1 merchant bank that provides fairness opinions and a wide range of valuation services to listed companies in India. It was ranked first for the number of announced fairness opinions rendered in the U.S. and globally for the number of announced fairness opinions, according to Thomson Reuter’s “Mergers & Acquisition Review - 2017.

About Duff & Phelps: Duff & Phelps is the global advisor that protects, restores and maximizes value for clients in the areas of valuation, corporate finance, investigations, disputes, cyber security, compliance and regulatory matters, and other governance-related issues. We work with clients across diverse sectors, mitigating risk to assets, operations and people. With Kroll, a division of Duff & Phelps since 2018, our firm has nearly 3,500 professionals in 28 countries around the world. For more information, visit www.duffandphelps.com.