OREANDA-NEWS. April 09, 2009. Acquisitions Monthly Magazine, the premier source for international news, features and analysis relating to the M&A and buyouts industry, has named PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Lead Financial Advisor for the year 2009, reported the press-centre of PwC.

This is a great achievement for PwC, as it was the first year that PwC network participated in the competition for this reputable award. This most recent award confirms PwC’s strong market position as a leading provider of financial advisory services.

Mark Okes-Voysey, managing partner advisory CEE, PricewaterhouseCoopers, comments:
“Russia offers unique investment opportunities in Europe. PwC advised on all four of the first four large international private equity deals completed in Russia. We focus and invest in our people and practice. We combine our due diligence expertise with innovative new tax structuring solutions to get the best deal for our clients.”

Michael Knoll, partner, head of M&A lead advisory, PricewaterhouseCoopers, said:
“We launched our M&A Lead Advisory practice only 2.5 years ago, but have been able to quickly establish ourselves, which is reflected by various successfully closed deals. I attribute this success to a number of factors, but believe that our “one firm” approach, which allows us to leverage various skills in a pre-deal, deal and post-deal context, was instrumental. Furthermore, I believe that one of the other main differentiating factors is our unparalleled global corporate finance network, which allows us to “match” sellers with buyers.”

Jonathan Thornton, partner, private equity leader, PricewaterhouseCoopers:
“The deal environment has changed very significantly over the last six months, but the skill set we used to help our clients complete large leveraged deals is proving invaluable to helping those of our clients who are now struggling to meet their debt repayments. These skills include quickly grasping the main business issues that a company is facing, whether it is the impact of the rouble devaluation or declines in their markets, and finding appropriate solutions through operational or debt restructuring or innovative tax structuring. In addition to this, many Russian companies are not able to quickly meet the information requirements of foreign lenders and we can assist companies in preparing and presenting credible information that gives lenders comfort in the viability of the business.”