Ankura Continues International Expansion with Frankfurt Office

Frankfurt am Main, 8 June 2021 – Ankura Consulting Group LLC (Ankura), a global consulting firm headquartered in New York, today announced the opening of its first German office in Frankfurt am Main. In line with the firm’s strategy of supporting clients with local and international, highly qualified teams Ankura continues its strategic expansion to provide clients with access to multi-disciplinary and independent expert and advisory services in one of the world’s most important economies. Initially, the new unit will be focused on the forensic sector. With the appointment of Uwe Heim and Markus Domin, Ankura has gained two renowned experts to build up a Frankfurt team for investigations in the field of proactive risk management and compliance, as well as forensic and investigation services. Further advisory areas to be established with domestic German teams are disputes and litigation advisory, turnaround and restructuring and data and technology. By the turn of the year 2021/2022 Ankura aims to be active in Germany with a team of more than 30 experts.

Since its founding in 2014 in the USA, Ankura, which fosters a collaborative and team-oriented culture, has achieved significant annual growth and currently has more than 1,500 professionals in 34 locations worldwide advising corporates on complex business challenges in the construction, energy, financial services, real estate, healthcare and consumer markets. This advice ranges from performance issues to acute crises and legal disputes. One of the key drivers for Ankura’s growth is the structural change in the audit and advisory market with regulatory pressure on established firms worldwide creating space for a new, significant independent player.

In Germany, Ankura has already been active in the areas of disputes and risk advisory. Amongst others, the firm has been appointed by the court as an independent supervisor of Volkswagen’s multi-billion Euro compensation payments to vehicle owners. In addition, Ankura’s experts are advising a significant German energy provider on the establishment of Germany’s first liquified natural gas terminal.

Kevin Lavin, CEO of Ankura, said: “Global companies today face a variety of strategic challenges from the Covid-19 pandemic to market fragmentation and regulatory change. With our multi-disciplinary and independent approach, we offer clients local and global expertise to resolve complex challenges. Our domestic and global clients appreciate that we are not tied to a statutory audit business, but focus entirely on expert and advisory services. We are looking forward to expanding the team in Germany and to opening up our services to more clients active in the German market.”

Simon Michaels, Chairman EMEA and APAC of Ankura, added: “Our clients in Europe are facing a period of major societal and economic change, with support required to help protect, restore and create value across the entire corporate lifecycle. For the significant and export-oriented German industry, this is particularly true. Our experience in supporting clients with proactive risk management, litigation advisory, investigation, restructuring and technology support is of high importance here. With Uwe Heim and Markus Domin, we have gained two proven forensics experts to build a German team and we are pleased to be able to offer global best practice and proven problem-solving expertise in this area from Frankfurt.”

 

Uwe Heim and Markus Domin to build highly qualified German forensics team for Ankura

Uwe Heim (58) has more than 20 years of experience as a forensics expert from his senior positions at large consulting firms as well as the German Federal Criminal Office. For almost 18 years to February 2021, he was a partner in Big 4 firms where he led business divisions and advised banks and companies on anti-financial-crime. This included supporting clients in investigations by regulatory authorities and leading national and international fraud investigations in a wide range of sectors as well as leading large international investigations with multidisciplinary teams focusing on corruption, regulation, money laundering and sanctions in the industry, banking and infrastructure segments. Prior to that Uwe worked at the Federal Criminal Police Office in Wiesbaden in the international unit for combating organised crime and money laundering from 1999 to 2003. He holds a degree in economics from the University of Mainz.

Markus Domin (44) has more than ten years of experience in the field of forensics and specialises in leading complex, international investigations on the suspicion of corruption, sanctions violations, bribery and other acts of fraud. He also spent 13 years in the German Armed Forces, amongst others as an intelligence officer. Prior to joining Ankura, Domin was employed by a Big 4 firm as Director and Head of Forensic Practice in Stuttgart until March 2021. Prior to that he was involved in leading and conducting special forensic investigations into allegations of fraud, corruption, sanctions violations and money laundering offences. From 1997 to 2010, Domin was employed by the German Armed Forces where he completed his officer’s career. Among other things, he worked as an intelligence officer and as a platoon commander in the Franco-German Brigade. Markus Domin holds a degree in business administration and a degree in economics and organisational sciences from the University of the German Armed Forces in Munich as well as an MBA in International Management from the European School of Business in Reutlingen.

 

About Ankura

Ankura Consulting Group, LLC is an independent global expert services and advisory firm that delivers services and end-to-end solutions to help clients at critical inflection points related to change, risk, disputes, finance, performance, distress, and transformation. The Ankura team consists of more than 1,500 professionals in 34 offices globally who are leaders in their respective fields and areas of expertise. Collaborative lateral thinking, hard-earned experience, expertise, and multidisciplinary capabilities drive results and Ankura is unrivaled in its ability to assist clients to Protect, Create, and Recover Value. For more information, please visit: www.ankura.com

 

Press contact for Germany:

Charles Barker Corporate Communications
Georg Schattney
+49 69 794 090 – 44
ankura-cb@charlesbarker.de