Accenture eyes BearingPoint's Asia business: sources

By George Chen and Judy Wu

HONG KONG/BEIJING (Reuters) - Consultancy firm Accenture Ltd (ACN.N) has hired Duff & Phelps to advise on its possible acquisition of the Asia business of BearingPoint Inc BGPT.OB, two sources familiar with the matter said on Thursday.

BearingPoint Inc, which provides technology and management consulting services to the U.S. government, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Wednesday.

But BearingPoint has said that its overseas operations were not included in the U.S. bankruptcy filing.

BearingPoint declined to comment, while a representative for Accenture could not be immediately reached for comment.

Accenture, a major competitor of BearingPoint in Asia Pacific markets, is in particular interested in BearingPoint's Japanese business and assets, said the sources who declined to be identified due to the sensitive nature of the discussions.

Japan is the Asia Pacific headquarters of BearingPoint.

The McLean, Virginia-based company, began as the consulting arm of KPMG LLP KPMG.UL, and it employs about 15,200 people.

In China, another key market for BearingPoint in Asia, the firm currently has roughly 1,000 staff.