Greater London, England, United Kingdom
I am a Corporate Finance, M&A/JV and public markets specialist with significant experience gained both as advisor, and as principal at a global investment bank and for Gateley. I led the flotation of Gateley Plc in 2015 and since then lead our acquisitions strategy, being the acquisition for Gateley of complementary legal and non-legal businesses. I am also Investor Relations Officer for the Group, devising and presenting, as part of the team working alongside our CEO and CFO, our results and investment proposition to funds, analysts and other market intermediaries. Throughout my career I have had an international focus. I have advised on and invested in numerous deals in North America, Western Europe, CEE, Russia and Japan. At Gateley I lead our international "Best Friends" network, being an informal referral network of independent, internationally-minded law firms. At Nomura I ran and developed a £2bn balance sheet Real Estate business. It operated initially as an asset-backed (principally real estate) finance business, designing and originating innovative transactions and offering a comprehensive (Snr Debt, Mezz and minority equity) underwriting capability to clients and, as principal, for the bank. Later, reacting to market conditions, the focus of the business shifted away from debt, to equity in emerging real estate markets (Europe, CEE, CIS and Russia). Specialties: Corporate Finance, Private Equity and M&A, with particular specialisms including Real Estate Investment and Finance, and Telecoms and Technology M&A.
I was Head of the firm's Corporate Group in London, until flotation of the business in 2015 when I became Acquisitions Director and Investor Relations Officer. We advise public and private companies, owner-managed businesses and entrepreneurs on a wide range of corporate matters including business structuring, mergers and acquisitions, public markets, corporate governance, private equity, corporate re-organisations and joint ventures.
My day-to-day role encompassed business strategy/leadership, client/transaction origination, lead structuring/execution, obtaining deal approval, risk monitoring/management and exit.
I qualified as a Solicitor at Wragge & Co in 1992. I was appointed Partner there in 1999. Initially my practice focused on corporate deals in the IT and telecoms sector, where I built-up a strong client relationship with AT&T working on a number of M&A deals for them over a four year period (including advising on the English aspects of their $10bn global “Concert” JV with BT). In 2002 my focus shifted towards financial institutions and I established and led a multi disciplinary group of 15 partners facing that sector. I was also Co-Head of the firm’s North American business development group; a position I held for the 5 years up until I left the firm to join my client Nomura International.