BrazilA&M bolsters Asian transaction advisory practice with senior appointments
Global consultancy Alvarez & Marsal has made a round of senior appointments in Asia, including Yvette Chan as a Managing Director and Asia Pacific M&A Tax Advisory Practice leader in Hong Kong. Chan joins Colin Gater and Richard Chen, who were promoted to managing director level in Hong Kong and Singapore at the end of last year.
International professional services firm Alvarez & Marsal has bolstered the Asian wing of its Global Transaction Advisory Group with a number of senior appointments. Experienced M&A advisor Yvette Chan joins the firm as a managing director in Hong Kong to lead A&M’s Asia Pacific M&A Tax Advisory Practice, while Colin Gater (Hong Kong) and Richard Chen (Singapore) have been promoted to Managing Director from within.
A master’s degree-holder in mathematical sciences from the University of Oxford, Chan joins Alvarez & Marsal after more than 14 years with KPMG, kicking off her career with the Big Four firm’s London office before spending the past ten years in Hong Kong – the latter where she was most recently a Partner in KPMG’s Deal Advisory M&A Tax team, serving clients across multiple sectors such as real estate, financial services, telecommunications, education and healthcare.
Over the course of her career Chan has amassed a broad range of M&A experience, advising in the words of A&M on “numerous mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, divestitures, corporate restructurings and pre-initial public offering (IPO) restructuring projects in China and Hong Kong”, with “deep expertise working with Chinese corporates, private equity funds and real estate firms on tax issues relating to their outbound investment in Japan, Southeast Asia, Australia, Europe, Israel, the U.S. and Brazil.”
“Yvette’s experience handling tax and regulatory issues across the region significantly improves our capabilities and aligns with our offering,” said A&M Managing Director and the firm’s Transaction Advisory Group Asia Practice leader Xuong Liu. “Her in-depth knowledge, combined with Richard’s and Colin’s wealth of experience, is a cornerstone of our continued expansion in Asia that will help clients seize deal opportunities and address transaction challenges.”
Colin Gater and Richard Chen meanwhile were among 42 worldwide managing director promotions made by Alvarez & Marsal at the end of last year. Gater – who has been joined by Chan in the firm’s Hong Kong office – has been with A&M since 2011, likewise recruited following a stint with KPMG. Currently based in Singapore, Chen too came to the firm after more than a decade with KPMG in the US and China, coming on board in 2014.
“Individually and collectively, Yvette, Richard and Colin bolster our bench strength in Asia,” said A&M’s Global Transaction Advisory Group leader Paul Aversano, who further stated the firm’s growing talent base in Singapore was an endorsement of its commitment to the region. “Our augmented footprint across Greater China and Southeast Asia broadens our unique ability to provide global perspectives alongside boots-on-the-ground expertise.”
“I am very excited to be joining A&M, and particularly at a time of such robust M&A activity in Greater China and Southeast Asia,” Chan said in response, with a recent analysis from Bain & Company outlining the increasing maturity of the M&A market in China. Chan continued: “The firm’s operational heritage, entrepreneurial culture and freedom from audit conflicts provides the perfect platform to help clients maximise value.” A&M's Global Transaction Advisory Group has more than 350 specialists worldwide.
