Guests included more than 250 senior representatives of the faculty’s member organisations – major professional services groups, specialist M&A firms, companies, banks, alternative lenders, private equity, venture capital, law firms, brokers, consultants, civil servants, policy-makers and academic experts.

The event was hosted by David Petrie, Head of Corporate Finance, ICAEW, and Mo Merali, Chair of the Corporate Finance Faculty and Head of Private Equity and Transaction Services at Grant Thornton.

The Annual Reception was supported by Arbuthnot Commercial Asset Based Lending, BOOST&Co, Beauhurst and mnAI.

Our guest speaker

The Corporate Finance Faculty was delighted to welcome Rt Hon Lord Willetts FRS, President of the Resolution Foundation. He has written widely about economics, social policy and innovation. He authored A University Education (2017), and The Pinch (about Baby Boomers and inter-generational inequality, 2nd ed. 2019).

Lord Willetts was Minister for Universities & Science who served for many years as the MP for Havant, having previously worked at HM Treasury and the No.10 Policy Unit.

He is now a visiting Professor at King’s College London, a board member of UK Research & Innovation, of Surrey Satellites and of the Biotech Growth Trust. He chairs the Foundation for Science & Technology, is an Honorary Fellow of Nuffield College, an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society, and is Chancellor of the University of Leicester.

Boosting Growth Capital for Innovation

Joanna Scott, Managing Director of BOOST&Co, announced a new initiative by the Corporate Finance Faculty to increase investment in the UK’s most exciting high-growth companies, for the benefit of economic development, business expansion, productivity and skilled employment.

Corporate Development Award

ICAEW’s Corporate Development Award was presented to Anna Manz, Chief Financial Officer of the London Stock Exchange Group plc, by Will Brooks, President of ICAEW, and by Andrew Rutherford, Commercial Director, Arbuthnot Commercial Asset Based Lending.

The Corporate Development award recognises a London-listed company that has significant operations in the UK and whose strategy has made the most effective use of M&A to increase shareholder value – and grow. Such M&A success is of course supported by expert corporate finance advisers. Previous winners of this award represent a wide range of the UK’s most successful industries and have included Weir Group, Intertek, Aberdeen Asset Management, Victoria PLC, Rentokil Initial, Coats Group and RELX.

The Corporate Development award is based on a unique ‘best-in-class’ methodology devised by the Corporate Finance Faculty, led by David Petrie, with the M&A Research Centre (MARC) at Bayes Business School, led by Professor Scott Moeller.

Corporate Financier – The Green Issue

The Annual Reception took place during COP26 in Glasgow, about climate change. The faculty published a special edition of Corporate Financier magazine – ‘The Green Issue’ – which includes features about investment renewable energy, electric vehicles, the food sector and hydrogen fuels, as well as about the London Stock Exchange’s Green Economy Mark, the World Economic Forum and KPMG on carbon emissions, careers in ESG, and the rise of Octopus Energy.

Photos by Erroll Jones

About the Corporate Finance Faculty

ICAEW connects more than 180,000 chartered accountants and students worldwide, providing this community of professionals with the power to build and sustain strong economies.

The Corporate Finance Faculty is the ICAEW’s centre of professional excellence. It contributes to policy development and many consultations by international organisations, governments, regulators and other professional bodies. It provides a wide range of services, events and media to its members.

The faculty’s network includes more than 80 member organisations. More than 40 per cent of the faculty’s membership is from beyond ICAEW.

Find out more information on the Corporate Finance Faculty here.