Confidence about the year ahead remains high amongst the senior corporate finance players in the accounting world. They have seen good and rising markets for several years and although they express caution about some aspects they expect this to continue.
One factor is the explosion in international cross-border activity. India, in particular, has become a significant factor. Chris Ward is global head of corporate finance advisory at Deloitte. “Last year, for the first time ever, external foreign direct investment exceeded internal,” he says. “We acted for the Tata Group in their proposed acquisition of Corus, for example.” He finds himself spending a lot of his time in India and staff numbers are being boosted. “Within the last twelve months,” says Ian Smart, managing partner at Grant Thornton Corporate Finance, “advisory firms have been opening India desks and seconding people to and fro.”
