Roger Esler
CAREER SUMMARY
Roger joined Dow Schofield Watts from Deloitte in 2012 to establish its Yorkshire & North East office and leads the firm’s Corporate Finance team in the region. Alongside the multi award winning Corporate Finance team, the office also has specialists in Debt Advisory, Transaction Services and Forensic Accounting.
A 1st Class honours graduate in Accountancy & Financial Management from Sheffield University, Roger qualified as a Chartered Accountant with GT in 1992 (attaining 1st place nationally in the Order of Merit) and then spent two years in Transaction Services at PWC, both in Sheffield. He then joined the Leeds office of investment bank SG Hambros in 1994, headhunted with the entire Corporate Finance team by KPMG in 1999 before joining Deloitte in 2001 where he was an equity partner in Leeds for 11 years with several senior regional roles, including Debt Advisory.
Roger has been based in the Yorkshire & North East region for over 30 years (with several short spells in London) during which time he has advised businesses through several market cycles. His experience is very wide ranging, involving advising owner manager and private equity backed businesses as well as PLCs on acquisitions, cross border business sales, debt, equity and venture capital fundraisings and management buy-outs. His contact base in the funding markets is both extensive and diverse.
CAREER HIGHLIGHTS
Roger has advised on a number of landmark regional deals over the last three decades including the sale of Sheffield Forgemasters to US buyers (and in 2022 the sale of the company to the Ministry of Defence), the IPO of SSP Holdings, the sale of Dobbies Garden Centres to Tesco, the MBO of Willerby Holiday Homes, the investment by Pricoa in AFI Rentals Group and the sale of Park Leisure to Midlothian Capital.
RECENT EXPERIENCE
The sale of Argyll Holidays to North American leisure parks group, Cove Communities
The sale of PEAK Pipe Systems to SIMONA AG of Germany
The sale of Sheffield Forgemasters to the Ministry of Defence as part of a £400m transformational investment plan for the business
Growth capital deals for Bayfields Opticians and Norther Building Plastics, both funded by BGF
The carve out of Tile Giant from Travis Perkins
PERSONAL INTERESTS
Roger is a keen road cyclist, winding down with managing a large garden, watching rugby, travelling and spending time with family.
