BrazilMichalis Stephanou and Charalambos Sergiou join partnership of PwC Cyprus
The Cypriot organsiation of PwC has per the 1st of July 2018 admitted two professionals to its partnership. Charalambos Sergiou has been named a Partner in Tax Advisory Services, while Michalis Stephanou has been appointed a Partner in the firm’s Advisory business unit.
With a headcount of around 950 professionals, generating revenues of €78 million, PwC is the largest professional services firms in Cyprus, ahead of its global rivals KPMG (around 800 professionals), Deloitte (~550 employees) and EY (~250 employees). The firm operates with four offices on the island: two in Nicosia, one in Limassol, and one in Paphos.
The firm’s partnership, which is led by PwC Cyprus CEO Evgenios Evgeniou, will receive a boost at the start of next month when its size will be expanded with the admission of two veterans at the accounting and consulting firm – Charalambos Sergiou and Michalis Stephanou.
Michalis Stephanou
Cypriot Michalis Stephanou joined PwC Cyprus in 2004 and, following a one-year secondment with PwC Athens where he specialised in the provision of financial due diligence services, has since 2008 been part of the firm’s Advisory department. The Advisory unit has two major service lines in Cyprus: Deals; which provides offering such as mergers and acquisitions, due diligence, valuations, restructuring and turnaround and capital markets, and; Consulting, which supports clients with among other provisions strategy and operational effectiveness, sustainability and climate change, risk management and regulatory, digital transformation, change management, and people effectiveness.
Stephanou, who holds of a bachelor degree in Business Administration from the University of Cyprus, has worked across several industries during his fourteen year tenure at PwC, with a focus on financial services. One of the clients he has served is the Bank of Cyprus, which he supported in a project aimed at complying with regulatory and reporting requirements of the European Central Bank, as well as a project that prepared the central bank for stress testing.
The newly elected partner is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales and served in both the Financial Services and Consulting Services committees of the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Cyprus.
Charalambos Sergiou
A graduate of the University of Cyprus with a bachelor degree in Finance, Charalambos Sergiou has wide experience in international tax structuring and in dealing with tax related issues arising from cross border and M&A transactions. He is currently part of the core M&A and International Tax Services (ITS) team of PwC Cyprus, where he supports deals structuring, due diligences, price determination and tax structuring projects.
Sergiou joined PwC in 2003 straight from university, and was seconded to PwC Russia for more than a year during the period of 2012-2013, acting as the Head of the Cypriot Tax Desk in the International Tax Structuring Services Team of PwC Moscow. The new partner, who is a Fellow Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales and a member of the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Cyprus, focuses on clients in the financial services, real estate and oil & gas sectors.
“We continue to place emphasis on providing our people with the support and expertise needed to help them develop and succeed in pursuit of their goals,” said PwC Cyprus CEO Evgenios Evgeniou.
Commenting on the outlook ahead, the CEO said in the firm’s latest annual review; “Operating in an environment faced with major challenges such as international and European developments in tax, transparency and regulation issues, as well as geopolitical uncertainty in key markets for Cyprus, it is important to remain agile and respond to new conditions in an effective way. The only way forward is by evolving our strategy, focusing on quality and streamlining of procedures, coupled with fully embracing the digital era.”
According to a recent study by PwC in Cyprus, CEOs in the country are optimistic about growth in 2018 and 2019, in a sharp contrast with the economic uncertainty and CEO pessimism of the past years. Greece, the UK and Russia remain the country’s main trade partners, PwC’s analysis found.
