Berkeley Research Group bolsters Singapore practice with two additions

Global consultancy Berkeley Research Group has strengthened its Southeast Asia capacity with the appointment of two experts in Singapore; Peter Bird joins as a Managing Director, while Tigran Ter-Martirosyan transfers from the firm’s London office. 

Co-founded in 2010 by Berkeley professor David Teece – previously named by Accenture as among the world’s fifty leading business intellectuals – the Berkeley Research Group is a global consultancy specialised in disputes & litigation, corporate finance, and strategy & organisation, serving the financial services, energy, healthcare, education and retail sectors among others from offices across the globe, including in Hong Kong, Beijing, Tokyo and Singapore.

Established in late 2015, the latter office – Singapore – has now bolstered its expertise through two senior additions; with longtime Rothschild adviser Peter Bird recruited as a Managing Director and existing Berkeley Research Group director Tigran Ter-Martirosyan relocating from London. According to the firm, the appointments are part of a move to expand its presence in Southeast Asia, and come on the back of the formation of a new emerging markets practice.

A PhD-holder in Economics from the University of Cambridge, Bird has served as an advisor with investment banking and financial services giant Rothschild for nearly thirty years, specialisng in M&A with a focus on the infrastructure, utilities and energy sectors. Currently a senior advisor, Bird has held a number of senior positions between London and Singapore during his time Rothschild, including as an Executive Vice Chairman and Co-head of Southeast Asia. Bird has further served as a director for a number of international investment and development organisations throughout his career, most notably in the infrastructure and energy sectors, including for InfraCo Africa and Asia across the space of ten years. Starting out as a lecturer at the University of Stirling in Scotland, Bird spent a period of time as a researcher before joining PwC predecessor Coopers & Lybrand for two years in London as a senior consultant in 1990.

Ter-Martirosyan meanwhile moves to BRG’s Singapore office after joining the firm a year ago as a Director in London. An expert in business valuation and forensic accounting, Ter-Martirosyan previously spent four and a half years with FTI Consulting in the UK, ultimately as a Director in its Economic & Financial Consulting practices. Earlier, he served in the transaction services divisions for both PwC and KPMG in Russia across the space of two and a half years.

“We are thrilled to have Peter and Tigran on board and on the ground in Singapore,” said Mustafa Hadi, BRG managing director and co-leader of the firm’s APAC region. “These appointments are in line with our strategy of offering world-leading expertise, delivered locally in each key jurisdiction. They will build on our leading position in the Hong Kong market and affirm our reputation as the go-to firm for the largest and most complex disputes in the region.”

Another former director at FTI, Hadi joined BRG in 2015 on the launch of its Hong Kong branch, the firm’s first in Asia. Now, and with the further addition of international economics expert Harry Broadman to lead its newly established Emerging Markets practice, BRG has set its sights on the increasingly hot Southeast Asian forensics & litigation market – which has recently witnessed a number of high-level movements, including the recruitment of Jarrod Baker to lead Deloitte's Southeast Asia forensics investigations practice.