At a time when M&A deals are picking up and regulatory scrutiny is intensifying, some firms are expanding their valuation teams to keep corporate clients in the loop on everything from evaluating and structuring deals to financial reporting and tax issues. In January, consultancy PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP said it hired three principals to bulk up its valuation business, launched in 2006. Two of the three are former PwC managers.

Pedro Santos, 43, is developing PwC's national financial engineering services group out of San Francisco, building on his recent experience at Duff & Phelps Corp., where he helped develop a similar business. Santos specializes in helping corporate clients analyze and value financial instruments such as derivatives, hybrid securities, hedging instruments and contingent-payment agreements.

This is the second time Santos has joined PwC. He previously worked as a manager responsible for the valuation of derivatives and other complex financial instruments, and played a pivotal role developing real-options analysis. He left in 2001.

PwC is also expanding its national fixed-assets valuation group and has hired Matthew Tanner, 38, to spearhead that growth from New York. Similar to Santos, he most recently worked at Duff & Phelps, where he was managing director and advised Fortune 100 clients on tangible-asset issues.

In Chicago, Timothy Davis, 47, has rejoined PwC after an 11-year hiatus to build its Midwest valuation business. He recently worked with Houlihan Lokey Inc. in the financial valuation services group. Davis first joined PwC in 1994, after graduating from the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University. He worked as a director in PwC's corporate value consulting practice for five years.