Appointments: Lloyds Bank; DLA Piper; Robinsons M & E

KATE GRIMOLDBY has been appointed by Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking as a director within its North of England and Scotland Capital Markets team.

Ms Grimoldby, who joined Lloyds Bank in 2013, has been promoted from associate director and will continue to support the origination and execution of mid-market leveraged transactions, including buyouts, bolt-on acquisitions and refinancings, with private equity firms and companies across the region.

Ms Grimoldby has completed more than 20 deals across the North during her tenure at Lloyds Bank, including the recent Dunedin-backed secondary buyout of Alpha Financial Markets Consulting, as well as the Inflexion-backed refinancing of On The Beach and the LDC-backed secondary buyout of Away Resorts last year.

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DLA Piper has announced the expansion of its employment and safety, health and environment teams with five appointments to the Sheffield office.  
 
Clare Gregory’s employment team has recruited Germaine Machin-Cowen as associate from Walker Morris. Machin-Cowen has a broad range of experience in both contentious and non-contentious employment work, including providing advice and assistance in relation to HR issues, industrial relations, mergers and acquisitions, outsourcing and employment tribunal claims.
 
Teresa Hitchcock’s safety, health and environment team has recruited Melissa Darby, Micael  Johnstone, Charlotte Gibson and Edward Steele to complement and strengthen the group.  

In addition there have been a number of internal promotions within the Sheffield office.  Lynne Auchterlonie (Construction & Engineering) and Ben Rogers (Real Estate) have been promoted to legal director and Barney Connell (Litigation & Regulatory), Claire Glew (Construction & Engineering) Marc Harvey (Real Estate) and Emma Kenealy (Real Estate), have all been promoted to senior associate.

Petra Billing, office managing partner for Sheffield, said: “We are pleased to welcome our new recruits and delighted that members of our team in Sheffield have been promoted.  This news reinforces our offering as the leading legal advisers in South Yorkshire and demonstrates our commitment to the Sheffield City Region and our clients, locally, nationally and internationally.”

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NORTH Yorkshire-based commercial engineering firm Robinsons M & E has appointed a new managing director.

Luke Kitchen is set to replace Chris Spencer, who is taking a step back from the day to day operations of the business after 33 years with the company but retains position as chairman to assist with the strategic development of the firm over the next couple of years.

Having joined Robinsons M & E at the age of 21 and currently operating as commercial director, Mr Kitchen has helped establish the firm as one of the region’s leading providers of mechanical, electrical and air conditioning services.
The business, which was established in 1963 and is based at Hampsthwaite in Harrogate, has a workforce of 56.

Prior to his seven years’ service at Robinsons M&E, Mr Kitchen’s previous roles have included finance manager at Kelkay and trainee accountant at Naylor Wintersgill.

Over the past 12 months, he has helped orchestrate the expansion of Robinsons Facilities Services which offers planned and preventative maintenance to commercial businesses. In addition, he has been at the forefront of the improved structure of the firm’s installation services, recruiting more skilled engineers and building long-term relationships with commercial clients.

In 2015 the firm recruited 14 new employees across all areas of the business.