Vultures are an essential part of any major clear-up

* username: rupertbu

Dubai’s tussle with an oversized debt load, falling property values and corporate scandals – perhaps the three most visible symptoms of the global economic downturn in the emirate – has attracted armies of foreign consultants, accountants and lawyers.

Bad times can mean good business for the restructuring experts, auditors and spin doctors. Just ask Alvarez and Marsal, a law firm working for Lehman Brothers, the US investment bank that went bust in 2008: the firm recently revealed charges of US$233 million (Dh855.6m) for managing the company as it winds down.

Dubai World, which recently proposed a $24.8 billion debt restructuring to its creditors and contractors, has at least five outside advisers. Government agencies are seeking help, as are plenty of industrial companies and banks.