Andersen's insolvency team goes to E&Y
Cracks emerged today in Andersen's rescue deal with Deloitte & Touche as the firm's corporate recovery practice jumped ship to join Ernst & Young.
Andersen announced that 10 partners and 200 staff would be joining E&Y in the UK instead of moving with the rest of the firm to Deloitte.
John Ormerod, Andersen’s senior partner, played down the move, saying: ‘This in no way affects our agreement with Deloitte & Touche in which partners and staff across Andersen’s UK practice will join Deloitte.’
A spokesperson for Deloitte said Andersen’s corporate recovery team did not provide a ‘strategic fit’ with its own business.
‘We concluded that the strategic objectives for our business would be maximised by excluding this element of Andersen’s business from the deal,’ she said.
E&Y’s insolvency team has been involved in a number of high profile corporate collapses, including Railtrack, Barings and Canary Wharf, while Deloitte is currently running the ITV Digital administration.
Andersen is currently working on the Photobition and Bioglan collapses.
Last month, Andersen announced it would axe 1,500 staff from the UK firm, and it is believed that up to 70 partners face a similar fate.
