People: Baines Wilson; WHN; PM+M; NPIF-Maven Equity Finance; KPMG

Baines Wilson has promoted Kate Parker to partner in the corporate team, and Caroline Raynor to partner in the commercial law firm’s employment team.

The firm has enjoyed considerable success and, as a result, is expanding.

The promotions of Kate and Caroline to partner recognise the importance of their advice in supporting both local and national businesses.

Andrew Hill, head of corporate and commercial, said “Kate is a highly regarded corporate and commercial lawyer and brings a strong technical background to Baines Wilson.

“Kate joined Baines Wilson from leading City of London firms Travers Smith and Kaye Scholer and has built a reputation for handling complex and challenging legal issues.”

Ms Parker said: “I am delighted to work for a law firm that is advising some of the UK’s leading businesses – providing them with the same legal expertise offered by the best City firms.”

Caroline Rayner advises both national and local businesses on employment law matters.

She began as an assistant solicitor at Baines Wilson in 2014 and has built on the firm’s impressive business client base.

Joanne Holborn, partner and head of employment, said: “Caroline’s extensive local knowledge and expertise means she is regularly asked to speak at universities and businesses on a range of employment issues.”

Ms Rayner said: “Baines Wilson is committed to developing its in-house expertise. I’m proud to have spent my legal career practicing in Lancaster, advising businesses of all sizes on employment law matters.”

::

Specialist residential conveyancing solicitor Jennifer Prysiaznyj has joined Lancashire law firm Woodcocks Haworth and Nuttall Solicitors (WHN).

Jennifer, 40, is based at the firm’s Bury office with a remit to build on its thriving residential department.

She was recruited from Blakewater Solicitors where she was director and head of conveyancing for 11 years, specialising in Islamic finance.

Her career highlights include developing a 10-strong conveyancing department from scratch, as well as achieving Lexcel, CQS and Investors in People Gold accreditation.

Jennifer Prysiaznyj

In addition, she was regarded as the most instructed solicitor in England for clients seeking residential Islamic finance.

Previously, she completed her solicitor’s training contract at the Accrington and Blackburn offices of Acklam Bond.

She obtained a Law and German degree from Sheffield University, which included a year studying law at Regensburg University in Bavaria, Germany.

Jennifer said: “I have a passion for training and development after growing my previous firm’s conveyancing team organically.

“This is something I am already doing here in Bury and we have already recruited a paralegal to work her way up to handling her own case-load.”

Graham Ireland, head of conveyancing at WHN Solicitors, said: “Recruiting Jennifer puts us in a great position to significantly develop our residential conveyancing team.

“I am confident we will benefit from her strong specialist knowledge, including Islamic finance, along with her passionate commitment to recruit and nurture talented young conveyancing lawyers.”

::

Blackburn, Burnley and Bury based PM+M – the chartered accountancy, business advisory and wealth management group – has made four new appointments across the business.

The first two new starters are Katie Marshall and Adrian Hargreaves who have joined the firm’s Run My Business team as semi seniors.

Run My Business offers an all-inclusive service to SMEs including cloud accounting, year-end accounts preparation, payroll, VAT and tax returns.

Katie has joined PM+M from Harrison Salmon Associates and Adrian from The Accountancy People.

In the tax team Patricia Cubbins is PM+M’s newest personal tax adviser.

Adrian Hargreaves, Rebecca Bingham, Patricia Cubbins and Katie Marshall

Patricia has worked in tax for 28 years including positions at Warings and Cowgill Holloway.

Her focus will be on advising clients on all aspects of their personal tax compliance and planning.

The firm’s corporate services team has appointed Rebecca Bingham as a corporate services senior.

Her core roles and responsibilities will be to lead audit assignments of varying sizes and control the production of accounts.

Rebecca has joined PM+M from the Preston office of RSM, where she had worked since 2011.

Commenting on the appointments, Jane Parry, managing partner at PM+M, said: “As PM+M continues to grow and we further invest in our teams, the firm’s focus is always on delivering support and the very best service to our clients.

“The calibre and talent of these four new hires certainly adds to the depth of expertise we offer.”

::

NPIF-Maven Equity Finance, managed by Maven Capital Partners and part of the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund, has strengthened its team with the appointment of senior investment specialists Andy Round and Karen de Meza to increase the level of support to local companies across all stages of the investment process and for ongoing business support.

Andy Round joins Maven’s Manchester office as investment director, bringing close to 20 years’ experience of investing and advising SMEs.

Most recently, Andy was managing regional funds for SPARK Impact and MSIF and has previously worked for IP-Group investing in a range of early stage university companies across different sectors.

Andy Round and Karen De Meza

He holds a PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Leeds. At Maven Andy is responsible for execution of new investments across Maven’s funds in the North West.

Karen De Meza joins Maven’s Manchester office as portfolio manager, bringing around 30 years’ experience advising companies on their financial, commercial and strategic management.

Most recently, Karen was group finance director for the Bowden Group, which held a portfolio of investments in the engineering services sector.

Karen qualified with KPMG in Manchester and is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales.

In the early part of her career Karen worked in corporate finance and for RBS in specialised lending, covering the Yorkshire and Humberside region.

She has also held a number of executive finance roles across a variety of sectors in plc businesses and privately-owned companies. At Maven, Karen will be responsible for supporting portfolio companies across the North of England.

Appointed by the British Business Bank in February 2017, Maven manages £57.5m worth of equity finance for NPIF, a £400m fund for SMEs in the North.

Working with 10 Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) and Combined Authorities in the North, as well as local accountants and banks, NPIF provides investment capital to support the growth of innovative and ambitious businesses across a wide range of sectors and in a variety of funding scenarios.

Maven has completed investments ranging from £50,000 to £2m and has also successfully leveraged an additional £4m in private sector debt finance for local businesses.

Primarily investing across Lancashire, Greater Manchester, Liverpool, Cumbria and Cheshire, NPIF-Maven Equity Finance is also working with MSIF, to deliver funding for businesses based in the Liverpool City Region.

Ryan Bevington, investment director at Maven, said: “We are delighted that NPIF-Maven Equity Finance has reached such a significant milestone and that we have been able to support the creation of so many jobs across the region.

“In particular, we welcome Andy and Karen to the growing team, which strengthens Maven’s presence and will help us continue to identify high-growth, innovative businesses as potential investments.”

::

KPMG has bolstered its national deal advisory practice with the appointment of partner Marc Summers, as the firm announces its latest promotions in Manchester.

Marc, who spent a number of years working in the firm’s Manchester office, will have a national remit, focused on delivering large, global transactions, particularly for complex carve-out deals on both sell side and buy side mandates.

Marc joined KPMG in 1995 and has more than 20 years’ experience in advising global corporates on cross-border transactions.

His KPMG career has also included a role with the firm’s transaction services team in Boston, USA, as well as a secondment with international software business The Sage Group plc where he led its non-core strategy programme on behalf of the board.

He recently advised National Grid on its £13.8bn divestment of Cadent Gas and SABIC on its multi-billion-dollar investment in Clariant.

Marc’s appointment is made at the same time as a string of senior promotions recently announced by KPMG in Manchester.

Kathryn Flynn (audit), Sharon Spear (consulting), Rob Crowther (markets), Paul Kelly (legal services) and Jo Sheerin (deal advisory) have also been promoted to director at St Peter’s Square.

The Manchester office has also promoted Hannah Maughan, Patrick Simpson (deal advisory), Cvetanka Jakimovska, Simeon Lucas (audit), Sophie Geddes, Kate Rowland (tax), and David Bonner (restructuring) to senior manager, alongside a further 11 manager promotions.

Marc Summers

Nicola Quayle, office senior partner at KPMG in Manchester, said: “We’re very happy to be welcoming Marc to the KPMG partnership.

“His experience will help deepen the well of specialist expertise we’re able to offer the UK’s biggest businesses.

“We have also made a significant round of promotions within the Manchester office, across a broad spectrum of practice areas, reflecting the outstanding talent we already have based in the heart of the city.

“We are committed to investing in the very best emerging and experienced professionals to create an unrivalled hub for business support right here in Manchester.”

Marc Summers said: “M&A activity has continued apace this year and we are seeing more complex deals being transacted with sector convergence, alternative transaction structures, activist investors and an increasingly diverse investor pool.

“My focus is to provide the guidance that corporates need to navigate these conditions and execute successful transactions.”