Updates

Faculty AGM

Last month, the Corporate Finance Faculty held its annual general meeting at Chartered Accountants’ Hall. The meeting involved a presentation of the faculty’s work over the past year by faculty chair, Alistair Brew. ICAEW head of corporate finance, David Petrie (above), set out the faculty’s priorities for the rest of this year and through to 2025. 

“Just as corporate finance advisory and its related services have expanded into specialist areas such as infrastructure, debt advisory, ESG, AI and cyber security, so has our membership expanded to incorporate these niche areas as we welcome an additional 2,500 new individual members of the faculty,” Petrie told the attendees.

Brew thanked the retiring board members for their help over the years and welcomed the new joiners. He added: “I extend my personal thanks to all our members for your continuing support. As we continue to navigate a testing economic landscape, the faculty board, technical committee and faculty team will aim to anticipate challenges the industry will face and harness opportunities to continue to support members.”

At the board meeting following the AGM, new members formally joined the board; Francesca Routledge from CISI presented an update on the new Diploma in Corporate Finance and Katerina Joannou gave a presentation of the submissions made by the technical committee on behalf of ICAEW and the faculty.

Faculty board changes

There are three new faculty board members and four have retired.

New board members

Mark Clephan has been EY UK head of corporate finance since February 2024. Based in the firm’s Manchester office, he has been a partner and has headed up EY’s north of England corporate finance team since 2017.

Chris Jarvill, EY associate partner in transaction advisory services, has joined as ex-officio; he became chair of the faculty’s technical committee in March. He has 38 years’ experience with EY.

Charindra ‘CP’ Pathiwille is a Deloitte partner and head of UK financial advisory. He is an FCA who has been with the firm 24 years. He was made partner in 2013 and is a member of the Deloitte UK executive committee.

Board members stepping down

Yvette Allen (above, with Alistair Brew, left, and David Petrie), who retired this year as head of the technical team in transaction services at Deloitte, and specialist on capital markets. She had been with Deloitte 28 years and was chair of the technical committee for five years and, as a result, ex-officio member of the Corporate Finance Faculty board. 

Chris Lowe, former EY corporate finance partner specialising in debt and capital advisory. He is on gardening leave from EY until February 2025. Prior to EY, he worked for HSBC and BAE Systems.

Mo Merali, head of deals and business consulting services at Grant Thornton, was chair of the ICAEW Corporate Finance Faculty between 2018 and 2023. He has been with Grant Thornton for 32 years.

Jon Moulton CBE, chair of the Better Capital fund vehicles, former managing partner of Better Capital, former non-executive chair of finnCap, former managing partner of Alchemy Partners. He has served on the board for 13 years and remains a columnist in Corporate Financier and supporter of the faculty and its work.

Annual review 2023

The faculty’s new-look 2023 Annual Review was distributed at the AGM. It includes a summary of the ongoing work of the faculty and its key people.

Dates for the diary

Diversity in M&A

The Corporate Finance Faculty is holding the second in its series of ‘Building a career in corporate finance and investments’ networking events. This is aimed at those developing their career in M&A, or ACAs looking to start a career in transactions.

The theme of this event is diversity and inclusion in corporate finance, and it will be held at the One Moorgate Place Club at Chartered Accountants’ Hall on 12 September 2024. Proceedings start at 18:00 and will include a panel discussion with Katherine Broadhurst, partner and head of corporate finance for the South West and Wales at Azets; Vincent Egunlae, investment banking analyst at Houlihan Lokey; Cara Haffey, PwC corporate finance partner, head of manufacturing and automotive and deal leader for the UK regions; Philip Olagunju, head of corporate finance at Cambridge-based PEM Corporate Finance. There will then be the opportunity for informal (free) drinks and networking. The event will run until 20:00. Places can be booked here.

The inaugural ‘Building a career’ event in March was attended by more than 70 young advisers.

Financial due diligence guide launch

The Corporate Finance Faculty’s latest guideline on financial due diligence, written by PwC and the faculty and reviewed by the technical committee, will be launched on 22 October 2024 at Chartered Accountants’ Hall. 

The event will start at 08:30 and involve a panel discussion followed by networking. It will run until 11:00 and places can be booked here.

Leeds infrastructure seminar

The Corporate Finance Faculty and the UK Infrastructure Bank’s delayed ‘Solving the UK’s infrastructure investment challenge’ seminar will be held at the Marriott hotel in Leeds on the morning of 5 November 2024. The original event on 19 June was postponed due to UK general election purdah rules.

As well as keynote speeches, an expert panel will explore where the UK is likely to see infrastructure investment in the near and longer term, and the challenges in delivering that investment.

John Flint, chief executive officer of the UK Infrastructure Bank and former group CEO of HSBC, will give the keynote speech, outlining where the bank sees the infrastructure investment opportunities in the UK, as well as how public and private finance can work together in infrastructure investment.

The panel discussion – Investing in a Greener Future: Overcoming Hurdles in Energy Transition and Infrastructure – will feature:

• Emily Sidhu, managing director of banking and investments, UK Infrastructure Bank;
• Louise Shaw, EY partner, energy and infrastructure corporate finance;
• Richard Goodfellow, head of infrastructure, projects and energy group, Addleshaw Goddard; and
• Daniel Grosvenor, partner and head of government and infrastructure and global financial advisory lead for power and utilities, Deloitte.

The UK Infrastructure Bank is based in Leeds and was founded in June 2021. It has invested almost £2bn in energy transition and levelling-up infrastructure projects.

The event will be of interest to infrastructure investors and advisers, as well as corporate finance advisers based in Yorkshire and the north-east of England. 

The free event will run until 11:30. Registration will start at 09:00, with the first speech at 09:30, followed by a panel discussion featuring infrastructure advisory and investment experts. Places can be booked here.

2024 Annual Reception

The Corporate Finance Faculty’s Annual Reception will be held on Wednesday 13 November 2024, at Fishmongers’ Hall in the City of London.

The ICAEW’s most popular member networking event is free to Corporate Finance Faculty members.

As always, the event will feature a high-calibre keynote speaker, as well as presentations of the Corporate Finance Faculty’s much-coveted Corporate Development Award and of the prizes for the best-performing students in the ICAEW/CISI Corporate Finance Diploma. Speakers are being confirmed.

There will also be a champagne reception, as well as the opportunity for members to network after the speeches and presentations.