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PwC’s new UK boss has lined up managing partner Laura Hinton as the frontrunner to replace the head of its crucial Middle East business next year, as the Big Four firm seeks to move on from a clash with a major Saudi client.
Marco Amitrano, PwC’s UK senior partner, is considering Hinton — one of his former rivals for the top job — as the lead candidate to succeed Hani Ashkar, according to people familiar with the matter. Ashkar informed colleagues in May that he would step down next summer after more than 12 years in the role. He will move into a new global position at the firm.
The impending leadership change comes after PwC’s bruising clash with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, which in February imposed a one-year ban on handing new advisory work to the firm.
The Big Four firm was one of the consultants on Neom, a $500bn development along the Red Sea coast being managed by PIF. The project was one of several major PIF mandates that helped to position PwC’s Middle East operations, which are integrated into the UK firm, as increasingly important to the latter’s revenue at a time of sluggish consulting demand in Britain.
But PwC’s attempt to hire Neom’s chief internal audit officer caused “friction and angst”, according to people familiar with those events, resulting in the ban.
If formally confirmed, Hinton will take over from Ashkar in June next year. She is the lead candidate of several names that Amitrano will consider, the people said, adding that no formal decision has yet been reached.
During his tenure, Ashkar has earned a reputation for forging close relationships with high-profile companies and government institutions, overseeing a strong rise in revenues that helped to buoy partner profits across the UK and Middle East.
Two of the people familiar with the discussions said it was PwC convention for territory leaders to move on after a 12-year term. However, there is no formal restriction on a longer stint, according to one of the people and a separate individual at the firm.
Ashkar’s departure comes after several important figures from the Big Four firm’s Middle East business were asked to step down in recent months, including head of assurance Mohamed ElBorno, the people said. ElBorno declined to comment.
PwC has built a larger footprint in the Middle East than rivals EY and Deloitte, benefiting from a boom in oil-rich countries seeking advice on huge infrastructure projects. Sales at PwC’s Middle East business grew by 26 per cent in the year to June 2024, accounting for almost one-third of PwC’s total revenues of £6.3bn in the UK and Middle East.
But the consulting boom in Saudi Arabia is now slowing due to fears among Saudi officials that ministries have become overly reliant on western consultancies. The appointment of an outsider to take charge of a business in the complex Middle East landscape is an unusual step in a region reliant on close relationships.
Hinton was one of two women vying to become PwC’s UK senior partner last year, and would be the first female head of a Big Four firm in the Middle East.
Amitrano’s other competitor has also since been moved elsewhere. Hemione Hudson, formerly chief risk and regulatory officer, was posted to the firm’s scandal-struck China arm last year.
Marissa Thomas, another contender for the top job who did not make the final shortlist, left PwC in February to help launch rival firm Unity.
PwC UK and Ashkar declined to comment. Hinton did not respond to a request for comment.
