KPMG pips Deloitte, PwC to acquire M&A tax team of BMR Advisors

MUMBAI: Days after Deloitte bought BMR Advisory’s corporate tax team; KPMG on Thursday acquired the boutique firm’s mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and risk team.
As part of the transaction, 10 partners including Rohit Berry and Vivek Gupta from BMR’s deals team, Sanjay Mehta (as an advisor) and Sarabjeet Singh from the risk team are set to join KPMG.

More than 100 executives from the boutique tax firm would move to KPMG by the end of July.

According to people in the know, Deloitte and PwC were in race to acquire the M&A tax team. Talks were on with Deloitte, after the BMR direct and indirect tax teams moved to Deloitte on Monday.

ET had reported on July 16 that Deloitte, KPMG & PwC were in a close race to acquire different teams of BMR Advisors.

In two moves, 30 Partners and 500 professionals from BMR advisors moved to Deloitte and KPMG.

The firms co-founders said the transaction was important for growth of BMR talent and both Big Four firms would benefit from the acquired teams.



“In this ever-changing business environment, it is important to continuously adapt and innovate to stay ahead of the curve, and with BMR’s high-quality talent pool, it will help serve clients better by blending domain expertise with analytical rigour while maintaining an uncompromising focus on quality,” said Bobby Parikh, Chief Mentor and Partner of BMR & Associates LLP.

“The successful combinations would help dive deeper into our client’s business dynamics and blend our extensive technical and analytical skills, thereby, delivering effective solutions,” added Mukesh Butani, non-executive Chairman of the firm.

As part of the deal, Rohit Berry will be the deputy head of deal advisory at KPMG and ace deal maker Vivek Gupta will head the KPMG M&A tax practice. KPMG’s M&A tax team, co-headed by Punit Shah, has gone through some turbulent times. Shah quit KPMG in 2015 to join Dhruva Advisors, another boutique firm founded by well-known tax expert Dinesh Kanabar.

BMR was one of the biggest tax boutique firms with total revenue of close to Rs 250 crore. It was a highly profitable firm with an enviable list of clients and talent that was much in demand in the industry.

Arun M. Kumar, Chairman and CEO, KPMG in India, commented, “The talented professionals of BMR embody ethos and values similar to ours, aligning naturally with KPMG’s culture. This was a very important consideration for the leaders of both firms. The combined domain expertise of the two firms will significantly enhance KPMG’s impact in the Indian market, strengthening our ‘One M&A’ initiative and our Risk Consulting offerings. We are confident that our current and prospective clients will derive immense value from the strengths that our new colleagues will bring to our firm.”

BMR was started in 2004 by ex-Arthur Andersen partners Bobby Parikh, Mukesh Butani and Rajeev Dimri, who had moved out of Big Four firm EY. The trio along with others had joined EY after Arthur Andersen wound up in 2001-2 in the wake of the Enron collapse. Under Bobby Parikh’s leadership, Andersen was India’s fastest growing and most profitable accounting firm.