Philippines' former PPP chief to head Atkins' Asian infra unit

Cosette Canilao is one of the senior figures joining the UK consultancy's new infrastructure advisory business alongside KPMG and McKinsey alumni.

Atkins, a UK design and engineering consultancy, has staffed its new infrastructure advisory consulting business with heavyweights from the public and private sector.

Atkins Acuity, as the new unit is dubbed, aims to provide end-to-end consulting services, combining the company’s engineering and master planning capability with new structuring, financing, and project preparation expertise.  

Roddy Adams, joining Atkins from KPMG, has been appointed as managing director of infrastructure finance, while Cosette Canilao, former executive director of the Philippines’ PPP Centre, has joined the firm as managing director for Asia Pacific. 

Canilao, who submitted her resignation from the PPP Centre's top job last January, has since been replaced by corporate lawyer Andre Palacios.

The unit's other senior executives are coming from the likes of McKinsey, Arthur D Little, the World Economic Forum and Standard Chartered Bank. The team is reporting to Dominic Harvey, Aktins Acuity’s chief executive. 

“Atkins Acuity is a direct response to our clients’ needs to deliver more rewarding and higher-value partnerships for infrastructure and energy investments. We believe governments, corporates and financial institutions alike are frustrated at bottle necks in programmes and a lack of delivery,” said Uwe Krueger, Atkins’ CEO. 

The new business will initially focus on the Middle Eastern, Southeast Asian and African markets across the core company’s sectors of transportation, energy and infrastructure. 

The new business will work with a range of clients including governmental institutions, civil authorities, international finance institutions, private investors, large corporates and funds. 

It has already secured new mandates in Turkey, Sri Lanka, Malawi, Kenya, Tanzania, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates. In Sri Lanka, the business is providing consultancy for the development of flood and drought risk mitigation investment plans and in the east and southern Africa helping deliver sustainable energy for all through sector reform. 

The new business unit has a goal of generating approximately £200 million in revenues in around a four to five period.