One on One with KPMG's Koecher & Rodriguez

KPMG's Restructuring Services group just got a lot stronger. On July 16, KPMG acquired Grant Thornton's supply chain advisory practice, effectively doubling the size of its core restructuring team and broadened its service offerings. To better understand the implications of this deal, Consulting's One on One sat down with Drew Koecher, head of KPMG's restructuring practice, and Kimberly Rodriguez, the partner-in-charge of KPMG's supply chain advisory unit who recently came over from Grant Thornton.

Consulting: How significant is this addition to your practice?

Koecher: The acquisition added 23 professionals and three partners, which effectively doubles our restructuring core team — which now has about 50 professionals. The practice is part of our much larger M&A transaction capability, which represents about 600 professionals and pulls from a full spectrum of areas across the firm such as tax restructuring and debt advisory. The former Grant Thornton group brings deep operational expertise, which allows us to work on a restructuring starting at the plant floor and follow it all the way through the balance sheet. The financial implications are key, but now we're better able to address the underlying operational issues.