People: PwC bolsters Corporate Finance team; Listed firm makes board announcements; Accountancy firm appoints new director; and more

PwC has strengthened its Corporate Finance team across Yorkshire and the North East with two new appointments.

Rebecca Rennison has joined the Yorkshire team as a Director, specifically focussing on Mergers and Acquisitions. Renninson has over 20 years’ experience, most recently spending two years working within PwC’s North West corporate finance team.

Renninson was also a Managing Director at Raymond James Financial in Vancouver, Canada, where for 15 years she focused on Investment Banking, completing equity financings and M&A transactions across North America.

Charlotte Tracy re-joins the North East Corporate Finance team as a Director having been part of the Yorkshire team at PwC for the last five years. Tracy has over 10 years’ Corporate Finance experience having originally started her career with PwC in Newcastle. 

Tracy brings with her a wealth of expertise advising privately owned and private equity backed businesses across the region through disposal, acquisition and finance raising processes.

Ian Morrison, PwC’s Yorkshire and North East regional leader, said: “These appointments signify the ongoing commitment not only to grow our Corporate Finance capability across the region but also to bring in additional expertise to enhance our existing knowledge of the market.

“Our deals teams continue to be very active across multiple sectors and both Rebecca and Charlotte will ensure that we continue to have the specialist knowledge to be able deliver the right advice for our clients.”

Rebecca Rennison added: “I’m delighted to have joined the Yorkshire Corporate Finance team at PwC and I’m looking forward to working with the team on this side of the Pennines.

“We have a wealth of knowledge and expertise right across the team evidenced not only in the volume of deals we have been involved in but also in the relationships we have built with our clients, which puts us in a great position both to build trust and to maximise future opportunities for our clients.”

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Grant Thornton UK LLP has appointed Bob McDermott as director in Transaction Advisory Services (TAS).

With a 20-year career and more than 15 years’ experience of Yorkshire’s corporate finance market – most recently with BDO and EY – McDermott will add further financial due diligence expertise to the Leeds TAS team.

Sophie Brown and Michael Meredith have also recently been recruited at executive level, bringing the headcount to 13.

The team specialises in providing an advisory service to growth orientated mid-market companies with notable transactions across the region including the IPOs of Sumo Digital and Tekmar Group; LDC’s investment into property agent Linley & Simpson; and the purchase of affordable housing developer Partner Group by Fastflow Group, backed by Elysian.   

Dan Rosinke, partner at Grant Thornton, said: “Grant Thornton’s TAS and Corporate Finance teams have had a fantastic year. We’ve worked alongside some of the region’s most vibrant businesses to support their growth ambitions, further establishing ourselves as a leader in the market in the process.

“We continue to see positive growth opportunities and are investing in talent at all levels to enable us to do so. Bringing Bob on board as director was a strategic decision as well as providing additional capacity to deliver engagements.

“With his wealth of experience of both transactions and the Yorkshire market, he is well placed to support the firm in meeting our ambitious growth targets.”

McDermott added: “Grant Thornton’s presence in the market and its momentum is certainly being felt. Joining a team that not only has the expertise but also a culture of growth and ambition in equal measures was a big draw for me. I’m excited to be playing a part in helping to support the region’s vibrant businesses.”

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Listed manufacturing firm 600 Group has appointed Terry Allison to the newly created position of Chief Operating Officer, effective 1 November 2018, and Don Haselton to the newly created position of Managing Director – Development, with immediate effect.

Allison  recently held the position of Managing Director for the UK machine tools operation, which has undergone a significant transformation. Prior to joining the group in 2016, he worked for Sandvik, a Swedish global engineering technology group with a turnover of $10bn, holding several senior positions in the UK.

Haselton spent 21 years with General Electric and 11 years with Fadal Engineering before joining the Group in 2006 and successfully leading the turnaround of the US business as the Managing Director of the North American machine tools operation. He has most recently been the Managing Director of the Global Machine Tool Division.

Paul Dupee, Chairman at 600 Group, said: “We are delighted that Terry and Don are strengthening the senior management team in their new roles.  We have exciting plans for 600 Group and we are putting together a team with the requisite experience and expertise to build and deliver value over the medium term.”

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Construction lawyer Richard Anderson has been appointed by Devonshires as a Partner in its Construction and Engineering department.

Based in the firms Leeds office, Anderson’s role will include expanding and developing Devonshires’ construction and engineering offering in the North.

His expertise includes advising on major infrastructure projects particularly in the building, power, infrastructure and engineering sectors. He also advises on procurement strategies, risk management and dispute avoidance, acting for clients which include hotels, tramways and universities as well as residential, utilities and retails sectors.

Prior to Devonshires, Anderson was a Partner at both Pinsent Masons and Gateley PLC, working in their construction services team in the areas of contentious construction, dispute avoidance and real-time project management.

Mark London, Partner and Head of Construction and Engineering at Devonshires, said: “Working in conjunction with our existing team, Richard’s appointment will greatly benefit our contractor, private developer and housing association clients.

“With more than 20 years’ experience of construction, Richard is a great asset to the Devonshires Leeds office bringing his outstanding reputation to the firm.”

Richard added: “Working in Leeds throughout my career, I’m looking forward to helping grow and expand Devonshires’ construction offering in the North. It’s a great opportunity to join the firm’s construction and engineering department and I look forward to bringing my wealth of experience to the team and working on new and existing projects.”

Devonshires Leeds office opened in Park Square in February 2017 and is managed by Partner Chris Drabble. The team specialises in banking, securitisation, construction, real estate, employment and pensions matters.

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Parseq, the business process outsourcer (BPO), has made three senior appointments within its client service and business development teams.

This year the Rotherham-based company has already added nine clients to its roster and invested more than £325,000 in new technology, software and site upgrades to support its ongoing growth.

Tracy Ridgard joins Parseq as an Account Manager, bringing more than 15 years’ experience delivering BPO services to customers across the financial services, media and retail sectors.

Prior to Parseq, Ridgard held senior account management roles with outsourcers Williams Lea Tag and RR Donnelley. Ridgard will work to help Parseq’s existing clients access back-office solutions that improve customer experience and deliver cost savings to their business.

Meanwhile, Parseq has added two new members to its business development team to help the company further expand its client portfolio across its existing and target markets, which include FTSE 100 financial services companies and leading utilities and energy providers.

Nick Wise joins as a Business Development Consultant, bringing 30 years of experience in the BPO industry, with a background in transaction processing, information management and data archiving. Wise was previously BPO Sales Manager for document management specialists Restore.

Last month, the company also welcomed Giles Chambers as a Business Development Consultant. Chambers holds more than a decade of experience in digital transformation across the public and private sector and was formerly a Business Development Manager for the UK division of global document management firm Swiss Post.

Craig Naylor-Smith, managing director of Parseq, said: “Tracy, Nick and Giles not only bring track-records of delivering exceptional customer service to their clients, but also a wealth of hard-earned insight and sector knowledge.

“Tracy’s background working with clients in the financial services sector, along with Nick and Giles’ experience with cutting-edge digital document management solutions perfectly complements our service offering.

“Their addition to the team will only strengthen our ability to offer efficiency-driving solutions that are truly bespoke to our clients’ businesses.”

Parseq, which has three sites across the UK, provides a range of complete business processing services, including digital mailrooms, data hosting, invoice processing and financial documentation management.