Mucibabici, Deloitte: Consultancy market set to drop further

The consulting services market will maintain its downward trend this year, after having plummeted in 2009, particularly on the M&A segment, from the peak reached in 2008, states George Mucibabici, Deloitte Romania chairman. “Judging from published turnovers, I don’t believe the financial and business consultancy market topped 300m euros in 2008. At any rate, 2008 was a peak year for everybody. In 2009, the market nosedived, especially in the M&A area. (…) We anticipate the same trend for 2010,” Mucibabici told ZF. In terms of business lines, audit services are still boasting the biggest contribution to Deloitte’s total turnover, more than 40%. Mucibabici specified Deloitte Romania is now focusing its business on financial and legal assistance services, developing a multidisciplinary team whose portfolio shifted from M&A consultancy to funding through capital raise operations and/or loans or debt restructuring. At the same time, another major objective of the firm relates to public sector projects. As regards territorial expansion, the head of Deloitte Romania specified the firm has lately focused on existing operations, seeking to strengthen its position on the markets where it already operates, especially in on Bucharest, Cluj-Napoca and Timisoara.