People on the move: Squire Patton Boggs; Onward Homes; Oddfellows, Chester

Squire Patton Boggs has announced the appointment of partner James Fitzgibbon, who has joined the firm from PwC in Manchester.

With more than 10 years’ corporate finance experience, Fitzgibbon focuses primarily on private equity, private company M&A, joint venture work and corporate structuring, acting for institutions, corporate clients, management teams and shareholders.

Prior to joining PwC he spent eight years at Pinsent Masons in Manchester.

Recent highlights of Fitzgibbon’s transactional work include acting on the sale of Supaglaze Holdings; acting for the management team at Key Retirement on its secondary MBO by Partners Group from Phoenix Equity Partners; advising NorthEdge Capital on its acquisition of Belfield Furnishings; and advising on the sale of Burnt Tree Vehicle Solutions to Enterprise Rent-a-Car.

Arriving at the same time as Fitzgibbon is corporate associate Alexandra Keane, who joins the firm from Fieldfisher. Two more associates will be joining in early autumn as part of the ongoing growth of the team.

Giles Chesher, head of the Manchester Corporate team at Squire Patton Boggs, said: “James is well-known within the corporate finance sector in the North, with a particularly strong reputation amongst the private equity community. He is a perfect fit with our existing team and his arrival, alongside new associate Alexandra, will make us one of the largest corporate practices in the North, working hand in glove with our Leeds practice.”

Fitzgibbon’s arrival follows that of partner Andrea Cropley, the former Northern head of corporate at Irwin Mitchell, who joined the firm’s Manchester corporate team in May.

EMEA chair of the company’s global corporate practice group Tony Reed said: “James represents a great opportunity for us to deepen our corporate strength and breadth generally, and with his excellent connections, particularly within the private equity market.”

Fitzgibbon is the seventh new partner in Manchester over the past two years, following the appointment of Andrea Cropley (corporate), Mark Barker (real estate), Debra Cooper (financial services) and Paula Cole (labour & employment), and the promotion to partner of Bryn Doyle (labour & employment) and Jonathan Brooke (real estate) in May 2015. The firm will be relocating to flagship offices at No.1 Spinningfields in Manchester in early 2018.

Giles Chesher is in the middle of the shot, flanked by James Fitzgibbon and Alexandra.

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Onward Homes – formerly Symphony – has appointed Sandy Livingstone as executive director for property. He joins Onward from Savills.

Livingstone’s appointment completes the group’s new executive team and board following a series of appointments in 2017 – Alastair Cooper as executive director of operations, Lisa Oxley, executive director of finance and ICT and Tejvinder Minhas as executive director of corporate services.

Bronwen Rapley, chief executive of Onward Homes, said; “This appointment brings our whole senior leadership team up to full strength, and represents a very significant step on our journey to build one organisation. Onward Homes is moving forward with a clear, shared purpose, and now we have the strong leadership in place to make that happen.”

As executive director for property Livingstone will be responsible for developing and implementing long-term strategies for property investment, development and maintenance across the organisation, which has more than 41,000 properties across the North West of England.

Livingstone a qualified chartered quantity surveyor, has over 25 years’ experience in property development and management.

As a director with Savills, Livingstone advised social landlords on property management, development and compliance.

He has also worked for Glasgow Housing Association as their project manager for the Glasgow Housing Stock Transfer and was Head of Projects for the University of Strathclyde.

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Matthew Capper has been appointed head chef at the 18-bedroom, four-apartment boutique hotel Oddfellows, Chester.

Originally from Chester, Capper spent many of his former years training in France specifically at Le Fleuray, a gastronomic country house hotel in the Loire Valley.

He returned to Chester where he has headed up the city’s popular restaurant Chez Jules for four years.

He said: ‘The opportunity at Oddfellows came at a perfect time for me. I can build on my previous experience and carry that through to a 24-hour operation, where events and weddings come into play – at the same time as busy breakfasts and afternoon tea services.

“I’ve been honing my menus for the last few weeks and I can’t wait to reveal my take on what the food offering at Oddfellows will be.”

He added: “Oddfellows is a brilliant business to be part of – they are independently run, and headed up by a small and smart team of experienced professionals who are happy for me to take the wheel creatively and have autonomy on the direction my food will take.”
Capper and the team are set to re-launch the restaurant at Oddfellows in autumn this year with new menus and a dramatic new look.

Jonathan Slater, Oddfellows Hotels, said: “Matthew will be a wonderful asset to the team at Oddfellows– he has strong ideas and the talent to support them. We are looking forward to evolving our restaurant under his creative vision.”