In Mexico, Deloitte & Touche's Mexican member firm Galaz, Gómez Morfin, Chavero Yamazaki announced on April 10 that it had signed an understanding with Andersen (Ruiz, Urquiza y Cía) to combine the two firms' practices. In the short term both firms will remain separate legal entities representing Deloitte, but will gradually merge operations.
Meanwhile in Brazil, Alcides Hellmeister Filho the local managing partner of Deloitte, said: "The integration with Andersen accelerates our plans of growth in Brazil. Our conversations, since the beginning, were marked by a sense of confidence and understanding allowing us to identify the synergies and complementary aspects of our operations. This integration will certainly create a strong and unique firm."
Ernst & Young is not willing to comment yet on the merger with Langton Clarke in Chile, but its PR company confirmed that an agreement to integrate people and technology was signed on Tuesday April 9. The union will create a firm with more than 1,000 professionals.
Since KPMG announced its intention to merge with all of Andersen's non-US offices, Ernst & Young has announced agreements with Chile, Poland, Russia, New Zealand, Australia, Singapore and Norway; Deloitte has taken Brazil, Mexico, the UK, Spain, Portugal, Taiwan and possibly the US tax practice; and PricewaterhouseCoopers has signed understandings with China, Hong Kong and the Middle East. KPMG has only managed to sign an agreement with South Africa.
The decisions mean that if all of the mergers go ahead KPMG has lost its battle to be the second biggest of the big four firms, and will be third behind PricewaterhouseCoopers and Deloitte & Touche.
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