The Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) has directed a company operating as KPMG Advisory Services to change its name within six weeks, following a Court of Appeal judgment that nullified the registration of a similar entity.
In a letter dated September 19, 2025, and signed on behalf of the Registrar-General by Chidimma Laureen Nwite, the CAC said the business name KPMG Advisory Services (BN 2145583), registered on October 11, 2010, was mistakenly approved despite the prior registration of KPMG Nigeria. The directive, issued under Section 30(1) of the Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA) 2020, warned that failure to comply would attract enforcement action. A copy was also sent to Idowu Sofola & Co. for record purposes.
The move follows the July 10, 2025 ruling of the Court of Appeal in Lagos, which struck out the registration of KPMG Professional Services after a two-decade legal battle. In a unanimous decision, Justice Abdullahi Mahmud Bayero held that the name was improperly registered and misleading under Section 662(1)(d) of CAMA 1990, now Section 852 of CAMA 2020.
The case began in 2002 when KPMG Nigeria challenged the registration of KPMG Professional Services, arguing it was deceptively similar and could mislead the public. Although the Federal High Court dismissed the suit in 2005, citing a supposed merger between KPMG Nigeria and Akintola Williams Deloitte, the appellate court overturned that judgment.
Justice Bayero ruled there was no legally binding merger, criticising the lower court’s reliance on newspaper reports as evidence. He stressed that KPMG Nigeria had historical precedence, having registered KPMG Audit (1969), KPMG Tax Consultants (1990), and KPMG Consulting before the disputed registration.
The court ordered the CAC to remove KPMG Professional Services from its register, cancel its certificate of registration, and restrain it perpetually from using the name. It also directed an inquiry into profits earned under the disputed name.
The ruling reinforces the statutory protection of existing business names and the CAC’s duty to prevent the registration of identical or confusingly similar entities.
