Grant Thornton Beefs Up Corporate Finance Team

Accountancy firm and business adviser Grant Thornton has made three additions to its corporate finance team in the South West.

Corporate Finance News

Paul Short has been appointed as associate director after five years at Grant Thornton’s Reading office. Meanwhile assistant manager Paul Eke, transfers to Grant Thornton’s Bristol-based corporate finance team from a transaction advisory services role and Mark Pope joins the firm at executive level from Smith & Williamson.

Mark Naughton, corporate finance director at Grant Thornton in the South West, said: “Our team advised on several of the region’s most high-profile deals last year.

“We expect the recovery in the region’s transactions market to accelerate in 2011, so Paul, Paul and Mark are joining us at what is an extremely important and exciting time.”

Grant Thornton is a Corporate financial and business adviser. It has 28 offices in the UK.

Corporate Finance Market Offers Growth

Firms are looking to invest and expand, according to a Norwich accountancy firm which has itself branched out and taken on new staff. M+A Partners, in a joint venture with business adviser Moore Stephens, launched M+A Corporate Finance last year.

It says it has worked on deals ranging in value from £250,000 to £50m and has now taken on a second member of staff. Director Christian Schosland said: “Whilst it has been a difficult period for corporate finance businesses generally, we have nevertheless managed to complete nine transactions, including the sale of Ipswich-based PetroTechnik to US buyer Franklin Fuelling Systems, and the acquisition of Norwich-based engineer Arthur Birchall Coatings.

“We have also helped two local businesses, Reeds of Downham Market and Norfolk Premier Golf, with bank fund raisings, which shows that banks in this region are lending again, providing you present a well-thought-out business case for doing so.”

He said there were also a number of financial institutions willing to help bridge the funding gap between bank debt and private equity for the likes of management buyouts, acquisitions or capital investment.
The firm, based in The Close, Norwich, has also recruited Chris Sheasby from private equity firm Key Capital Partners, where he spent three years investing in local small and medium-sized businesses.

Mr Schosland and Mr Sheasby previously worked together in the corporate finance department of Deloitte.
Mr Sheasby said: “The corporate finance market has been somewhat anaemic of late, but the future is brighter. “We are increasingly seeing companies with compelling investment cases.”