Alvarez & Marsal (A&M) strengthened its European Restructuring practice by adding senior restructuring partners Paul Kirkbright and Ben Cairns from KPMG and EY, respectively.

Kirkbright joins A&M to head up the Creditor Advisory Services team across EMEA. He brings more than 20 years of experience, covering a wide range of sectors including oil and gas, retail, travel and leisure, infrastructure, technology, construction and manufacturing. As the global head of Financial Restructuring at KPMG, he advised stakeholders in stressed and distressed situations on more than 40 transactions, with debts in excess of €50 billion.

Joining from EY, Cairns takes the role of a managing director within A&M’s Restructuring practice in London. He has 16 years of experience advising boards and stakeholders in consensual and non-consensual restructurings and acting as officeholder in restructuring situations. Cairns has industry expertise and brings an understanding of financial services as an appointment taker for banks and insurance companies in run-off. In his previous role, he acted as a leader of the Financial Services Restructuring team in the UK and Ireland.

Earlier this year, five senior KPMG partners joined A&M to expand its Restructuring and Corporate Performance Improvement practices.

Commenting on the appointments, Richard Fleming, head of European Restructuring at A&M, said, “This is an important step in our journey to become the “go-to” restructuring firm in the UK and Europe. Paul and Ben’s extensive experience, particularly in handling cross-border restructuring cases that have involved inventive solutions across a number of jurisdictions, will be invaluable to our clients. As we continue to grow, we expect that other leading industry practitioners will also recognize the opportunities that an independent firm such as A&M can offer.”