FTI Consulting, Inc. Continues Further Expansion in Europe With Three Key Madrid Hires

LONDON and MADRID, Nov. 23, 2010 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- FTI Consulting, Inc. (NYSE: FCN), the global business advisory firm dedicated to helping organisations protect and enhance their enterprise value, today announced the further expansion of its European Corporate Finance/Restructuring segment with the opening of new offices in Madrid and the appointment of three professionals; Aurelio Garcia-Miro (Senior Managing Director), Sergio Velez (Managing Director) and Andreas Fluhrer (Director) who join the existing team of Colin Blessley (Senior Managing Director) and Jose Maria Pineiro (Director).  

The three new appointments bring with them strong track records in delivering operational and financial performance improvement programs across a variety of sectors, and exemplify the continued growth of the firm's restructuring advisory business in Europe.  

The FTI Corporate Finance/Restructuring team in Madrid is led by Colin Blessley, Senior Managing Director, who has more than 35 years of restructuring experience in Europe and Latin America. Mr. Blessley has led a considerable number of successful advisory restructuring and turnaround assignments over recent years for corporates and lenders alike, involving corporate debt in excess of US $45 billion. He has advised many multinational and domestic clients in the UK, Continental Europe (including Spain) and North and Latin America on business restructuring, turnarounds, acquisitions, alliances, disposals, funding, valuations and strategic planning, as well as forensic investigations and litigation support.

Commenting on these developments at the launch event in Madrid, Dominic DiNapoli, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer said, "The expansion of our Corporate Finance offering in Spain forms a key element of the European strategy of our restructuring advisory business.  We are pleased to welcome Aurelio, Sergio and Andreas to the team at a time when many companies, sponsors and banks in Spain are looking for restructuring solutions from advisers with global resources and experience to call on.  The growth of our Spanish team follows on from the successful launch of our practice in Germany in July 2010 and the continued strengthening of our London business, which is working on a number of cross-border pan-European assignments with our European colleagues."

Colin Blessley added, "The international and multi-sector restructuring experience that Aurelio, Sergio and Andreas bring to the Madrid office will be very valuable and underlines our commitment to our European Corporate Finance/Restructuring segment.  The Spanish economy continues to suffer from the aftermath of the financial crisis and regional concerns around sovereign debt. We expect this to remain the case for some time. Many corporates require hands-on restructuring advice and support in order to adapt their businesses to changing market conditions. Our joint track records in Spain and Europe, together with our close links to our Latin American restructuring team, provide a unique service offering in the Spanish market, which we are already deploying in a number of high-profile assignments".

Aurelio Garcia-Miro added: "I am delighted to have joined FTI and to be providing the highest quality financial and operational restructuring advice to our clients. I am excited to be working with our new team to broaden and deepen FTI's links to the market in Europe."

Team biographies

Colin Blessley, Senior Managing Director

Colin Blessley is based in Madrid and London and has more than 35 years of restructuring experience in Europe and Latin America.

Prior to joining FTI, Mr. Blessley was an adviser to the UK Financial Services Authority and previously led PricewaterhouseCoopers' mainland European restructuring business. For 10 years he led PwC's Spanish corporate finance and restructuring activities and for 5 years was co-leader of their restructuring practice in Latin America.

Mr. Blessley is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales and a Spanish Certified Accountant. He speaks fluent Spanish, French and Portuguese and has a good command of Italian.

Aurelio Garcia-Miro, Senior Managing Director

Based in Madrid, Mr. Garcia-Miro brings more than 15 years of experience leading operational restructuring and change management engagements in Europe, the US and Latin America, across several sectors, including media and communications, real estate, automotive, airlines, construction and manufacturing.

Prior to joining FTI, Mr. Garcia-Miro was Senior Director and Co-head of Alvarez & Marsal Spain, leading the restructuring practice, and numerous CRO and performance and cash flow optimisation assignments in Spain and Europe.

Before joining A&M, Mr. Garcia-Miro was a director of the McGraw-Hill Companies International Publishing Group, managing a number of turnaround and performance optimisation projects in North America, Spain and Portugal.

Mr. Garcia-Miro started his career in media with the largest media group in Peru and became the representative of The Economist Group Intelligence Unit in the Andean Pact countries.

Mr. Garcia-Miro has a bachelor's degree in business and finance from Universidad del Pacifico in Lima, Peru, and a master's degree in business administration from Columbia Business School in New York.  He is fluent in English and Spanish, and has a basic knowledge of Portuguese and Italian.

Sergio Velez, Managing Director

Sergio Velaz has more than 12 years of business and restructuring experience in Europe and Latin America.

He has advised multinational and domestic clients in several countries such as Spain, France, Italy, Germany and Argentina on operations and corporate finance, including business restructuring, turnarounds, cash management, cost reduction, forecasting and business consulting.

His experience has covered a wide variety of business sectors, including, in particular, manufacturing, automotive, distribution, commercial, printing, renewable energy, pharma and apparel industries.

Mr. Velaz was formerly a Director with Alvarez & Marsal in Spain for 3 years.

Before A&M, Mr. Velaz had several leading roles in Valeo, the leading Paris-listed automotive supplier, including CFO of Valeo Service Italy, Finance Director in Argentina and Controller in Iberia. Prior to Valeo, Mr. Velaz was Finance Director of an industrial unit at the Irish Group Smurfit Kappa (formerly Jefferson Smurfit Group).

Mr. Velaz received a bachelor's degree in Business Studies and Economics in Madrid and a Master's degree in business administration (MBA) from Instituto de Empresa (IE) Business School in Madrid.

A Spanish national, Mr. Velaz is fluent in Spanish, English, Italian and has working knowledge of French.

Jose Maria Pineiro, Director

Jose Maria Pineiro has 8 years of restructuring advisory experience in both the public and private sectors, advising creditors and investors alike. Mr. Pineiro has been involved in a number of highly complex financial restructuring assignments and has led several cash management (including cost reduction) and internal business review processes.

Prior to joining FTI, Mr. Pineiro spent 7 years working for Kroll, 4 of which were based in London, working with a mix of Government agencies and corporate clients. Mr. Pineiro is originally from Argentina and speaks English and Spanish fluently.

Mr. Pineiro is a CPA as well as a Certified Fraud Examiner and holds a Master's degree in Finance from ESADE Business School.

Andreas Fluhrer, Director

Andreas Fluhrer has more than eight years of varied experience in delivering operational restructuring, working capital optimisation and financial improvement programmes throughout Europe, the US and Latin America. He has advised clients across a wide range of industries, including real estate, retail, manufacturing, apparel, automotive, media and fast-moving consumer goods.

Mr. Fluhrer was a Senior Associate with Alvarez & Marsal's European Restructuring Practice. Before his time at Alvarez & Marsal, Mr. Fluhrer was a Senior Consultant with REL Consultancy Group, a boutique consultancy specialised in working capital improvement. Andreas started his career as a Consultant with Deloitte in Spain.

Mr. Fluhrer earned a MSc. in Economics and Finance from Universitat Pompeu Fabra (Barcelona, Spain), and an MBA from the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth. A German national, he is fluent in German, English and Spanish.

About FTI Consulting

FTI Consulting, Inc. is a global business advisory firm dedicated to helping organizations protect and enhance enterprise value in an increasingly complex legal, regulatory and economic environment. With more than 3,500 employees located in most major business centers in the world, we work closely with clients every day to anticipate, illuminate, and overcome complex business challenges in areas such as investigations, litigation, mergers and acquisitions, regulatory issues, reputation management and restructuring. More information can be found at www.fticonsulting.com.

SOURCE FTI Consulting, Inc.

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