PKC Advisory... Strengthened Presence in MENA and Beyond

Mr. Narendra Baliga

Established in 2003, PKC Advisory went from a consultancy company for KIPCO and its Group companies to offer a wide range of business advisory services to an increasing number of clients in the GCC and wider MENA region.

Over the course of over 20 years, the management of PKC was eager to transform the company to become the partner of choice to many clients delivering a sustainable value proposition through strong multi-disciplinary team, wide spectrum of expertise and flexible engagement model placing ‘Client First’ approach. KIPCOLife met with PKC Advisory CEO, Mr. Narendra Baliga who talked about his company’s position in the market, its geographic presence and its wide spectrum of services it offers.

Where does PKC Advisory stands today in the business advisory services sector?

PKC Advisory offers a wide range of business advisory services to a growing client base across the GCC and wider MENA region. 

Since our inception in 2003, we have grown from being the in-house corporate finance arm of KIPCO, to supporting most of the operating entities of the Group, to now working with a diverse clientele across sectors and geographies. During the course of our journey, we have been privileged to support KIPCO and group entities in many of their key strategic initiatives.

Our 75+ member team, based out of our offices in India, comes with diverse experience. As on date, we have executed 1,000+ engagements for 200+ clients. Our clientele includes family offices, holding companies, financial institutions and industrial groups across sectors. Amongst our non-KIPCO Group related clients are a leading multilateral Islamic financial institution in KSA, one of the oldest private sector banks in UAE, several large industrial companies across the GCC region, etc.

Our 75+ member team executed 1,000+ engagements for 200+ clients

PKC expanded its client base in the GCC and has a growing client base in the US & Europe

Tell us more about the range of services PKC Advisory offers especially in sustainability?

Over the years, as we became more entrenched with our clients, we were able to align and grow our services beyond business and financial advisory to include process consulting, people & organization consulting, procurement advisory and, most recently, sustainability and ESG advisory services.

As ESG factors became an integral part of regulations and raced to the top of agenda for investors, we began supporting our clients in their ESG journey and gradually moved up the maturity ladder.

Our first client in this domain was SADAFCO; we supported them in developing their ESG strategy and roadmap, and in publishing their first ESG Report. Since then, we have been assisting multiple clients in their sustainability reporting & disclosures based on different frameworks.

We have also supported our clients in developing their ESG governance framework, drafting ESG policy and integrating it into their operations. With financial institutions, this also entails developing their sustainable finance framework and responsible investment policy.

As our clients mature on their ESG journey, we are witnessing traction in emerging areas that include developing Climate Risk and Decarbonization roadmaps to achieve Net Zero using SBTi guidelines.

Can you share some details on geographies you serve and what’s your strategies to strengthen such presence?

Given that we began our operations by supporting KIPCO and entities of the Group, our natural spread has been in geographies where the Group is present, with prime focus being Kuwait.

Over the past decade, we have expanded our client base in the GCC; with KSA, UAE and Kuwait being the key markets. A majority of these clients have come through referrals from our existing clients and by staying in touch connected as our client contacts move up the career ladder across organizations.

We also have a small but growing client base in the US and Europe. A case in point being a US micro-finance institution for whom we have provided transaction support services across their network spanning 15 economies in Central Asia, Africa and Latin America. We also support a UK based boutique investment bank and a Zurich headquartered commercial bank with operations across EMEA and Asia. 

We have assisted various GCC based clients in projects related to their overseas investments. For instance, we worked with a KSA-based telecom infrastructure operator on their successful bids for providing in-site mobile solutions across multiple airports and metros in KSA, India and the Far East. 

What is the percentage of the SME’s in your overall portfolio and are there plans to attract more start-ups?

A sizable 20% of our revenue is generated from medium sized companies (with turnover up to US$100 million). With the growing importance of SMEs in most geographies that we operate in, it is also a segment of focus for us. The key constraint to enhancing the quantum of business from the small enterprises (including start-ups) has been in profitably delivering smaller ticket engagements and in accepting in-kind consideration (i.e. equity) for services rendered. Nevertheless, we are making efforts to productize some of our services to make them more attractive to price sensitive smaller businesses (including start-ups).

We also work with start-ups through our engagement with private equity funds, investment companies and strategic investors by supporting them in investment opportunity assessment including valuation assessment and undertaking commercial due diligence.