Our hands-on operations experience paved the way for us becoming the “go-to” consulting firm for turnaround, operations and performance improvement management. Over the years, clients in myriad industries and geographies have benefited from our steady hand and relied on our ability to solve complex business issues and identify their future challenges. Our firm and our services have evolved and expanded, to meet the growing needs of our clients.
The A&M Story
Over the past forty years, Alvarez & Marsal (A&M) has grown from three employees to over 10,000 in more than 80 offices across 39 countries in North America, Europe, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East, making the firm one of the largest privately-held global professional services firms. A&M attributes its people to this tremendous growth. The firm continues to recruit top talent, enabling it to respond to shifting market demands and expand its service lines across geographies such as the U.S., the U.K., Brazil, Mexico, France, China and the Nordics.
When Tony Alvarez II and Bryan Marsal joined forces in 1983, it was with the intent of seamlessly linking operations, performance improvement and value creation to best help companies turn areas of stagnation into growth to achieve sustainable results. This ethos remains at the core of the firm. The firm is known for asking tough questions, listening well, digging in and getting its hands dirty. As a result, it provides global leadership, problem solving and value creation for companies across industries and around the world. Its consultants work as advisers, interim leaders and partners who, according to the firm, "tell clients what they need to know, not always what they want to hear."
In 1999, A&M made the decision to grow into a national restructuring firm. In 2001, the firm launched a Turnaround / Restructuring practice in Europe and by 2002, A&M expanded its restructuring reach in major U.S. cities and in Canada. In 2003, Sarbanes-Oxley spurred the entry of the firm’s Performance Improvement and Business Advisory Service lines and in 2005, A&M launched a dedicated Transaction Advisory and Private Equity Services practice. Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy in 2008 and A&M was chosen to lead Lehman’s global wind-down. That year, A&M formed the firm’s Financial Industry Advisory Services practice. By 2012, Lehman Brothers emerged from the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history and began to repay creditors.
Today, A&M works with companies, governments and entities across the industry spectrum to improve operational and financial performance. A&M’s primary global service lines of corporate performance improvement, private equity services, restructuring & turnaround, tax, disputes and investigations, valuation and regulatory & risk advisory are fueled by its leaders' extensive C-suite experience, business know-how, and roll-up-your sleeves attitude. The company serves clients across the energy, retail, financial services, health care, public, social and real estate sectors. Its client roster includes AmLaw 100 law firms and Fortune Global 500 (over half of the Fortune 100) companies, numerous private equity firms as well as the FTSE 100, the S&P 500 and 21 of 30 of the global SIFI banks.
A&M continues to expand around the world in response to market demand for an independent professional services firm that meets pan-European regulatory requirements. In 2018, A&M bolstered its global Transaction Advisory Services capability with the appointment of new leadership in Paris, expanding the firm’s cross-border M&A offering. The global Transaction Advisory Services practice also in 2018 was named a leader by the ALM Intelligence Vanguard Transactions-Acquisitions Consulting report along with only five other firms in the industry, helping shape the future of transaction advisory services with its unique integrated approach to deal-making. In 2017, the firm made its entry into the Nordics and appointed leading industry professionals from KPMG including the former Head of Valuation Services for KPMG Sweden and the former CEO of KPMG Sweden and Head of its Financial Advisory Services practice.
In September 2018, A&M opened in the Cayman Islands, complementing the firm’s ability to work on restructuring engagements in parallel tracks with the U.S., U.K., Europe and Hong Kong. Cayman Islands is the fifth largest financial jurisdiction in the world. A&M’s expansion in the region demonstrates our continuing commitment to meet clients’ complex, international restructuring needs, related global valuation demands, as well as disputes and investigations concerns.
