NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - KPMG Consulting said Wednesday it is hiring 140 partners and 1,400 other employees of embattled accounting firm Arthur Andersen.

The hirings come as part of the previously announced acquisition by KPMG Consulting of 23 independent Andersen consulting units worldwide. KPMG Consulting (KCIN: Research, Estimates) was spun off through an initial public offering from accounting firm KPMG LLP, the U.S. arm of Netherlands-based KPMG International, last year. It is paying $63 million for the employees included in the deal.

"We look forward to welcoming these skilled professionals into KPMG Consulting's family," CEO Rand Blazer said. "This team will complement our already strong group of talented U.S. professionals. We anticipate that during the quarter ending in September this team could deliver approximately $65 million of additional net revenue."

Arthur Andersen is facing the threat of being forced out of business due to an obstruction of justice conviction earlier this month for destroying documents at Enron Corp.

Even before that conviction, it was moving to shed its consulting operations due to concerns over conflicts of interest between audit and consulting functions for the same clients.

Tuesday evening Andersen got more bad news when a former client, WorldCom, revealed it would have to restate results due to nearly $4 billion in improper accounting entries in 2000 and 2001, when Andersen served as its outside auditor. Andersen issued a statement saying WorldCom's chief financial officer had kept the information from it.