Duff & Phelps expanding services to leverage opportunities presented by IBC

US-based advisory firm Duff & Phelps is planning to focus on distressed M&A space and is broadening its reach to even those companies that are in the "pre-NCLT" stage, a senior company official said.

Duff & Phelps has executed valuation mandates for six of the twelve largest insolvency cases in India as part of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) and has a team of close to 120 people locally working on projects related to the IBC legislation.

"There are two distinct ways the IBC space is developing. One is formally entering the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) where the case is resolved in a formalised court driven process, and the other is to bring companies that are in distress, to the negotiating table earlier than the NCLT route," Varun Gupta, country managing director for India, told PTI.

Gupta further said: "There is a significant opportunity that is opening up in the pre-NCLT space and Duff & Phelps is targeting that space as well".

IBC, which provides for a market-determined and time-bound resolution of insolvency proceedings, became operational in December 2016.

A case is taken up for resolution under the Code only after getting clearance from NCLT and subsequently, an insolvency professional is appointed.

Besides expanding its portfolio of services to leverage opportunities presented by IBC, Duff & Phelps has bullish hiring plans.

"The company has grown from 50-60 people last year to 150 now and aims to increase its staff to around 400 by December 2019," Gupta added.

In March this year, Duff & Phelps acquired security and cyber solutions specialist Kroll. With Kroll, the firm has nearly 3,500 professionals in 28 countries around the world.

In August, Duff & Phelps announced plans to expand operations with the opening of a new office in Mumbai.

India is home to the third largest Duff & Phelps team after New York and London. The team not only serves the India market but also supports global projects involving valuation, restructuring, merger and acquisition (M&A) advisory, disputes and investigations, among other services, as per the company.