South West & Wales

Adrian heads up the HW Corporate Finance team in the South West and Wales. He is a qualified chartered accountant and has specialised in corporate finance work for 12 years. He spent 16 years with one of the Big 4 accountancy firms, where he undertook both corporate finance and before that business recovery work. He joined HW Corporate Finance in 1997 to set up the corporate finance business in Wales and the South West. Since then he has played a leading role in the development of HW Corporate Finance and the national organisation.

He has extensive lead advisory and consultancy experience gained from advising a wide range of clients including PLC’s, privately owned companies, not for profit organisations and financiers. He has advised on transactions with a value totalling c£200m over the last 10 years.

These have included:

• Lead advice on many management buy-outs and buy-ins
• Management of company sales and acquisitions in a wide range of sectors
• Lead advice on finance raisings from £1 to £30m
• Due diligence work for financiers and trade acquirers
• Advice to Universities and Further Education Colleges on finance raising, mergers and project feasibility
• Acting as expert witness on valuations in court proceedings.

Chris joined HW Corporate Finance from a regional institutional equity fund where he was a senior investment manager. An economics graduate from Cardiff University, Chris started his professional career with National Australia Bank Group in Leeds before joining GE Commercial Finance (specialising in the debt funding of leveraged transactions).

Having returned to Wales with GE Commercial Finance, Chris was subsequently approached to join an equity fund which specialised in investments of up to £1.5m in high growth companies based in Wales.

A qualified banker, Chris has extensive experience of funding debt and equity based transactions. In particular he has a range of contacts in the leveraged debt and private equity markets.

Recent lead advisory experience includes several management buy-outs / buy-ins, sales and acquisitions. In addition, Chris has undertaken several finance raising exercises on behalf of clients.

Chris has also concluded numerous due diligence exercises on behalf of both institutional investors and trade acquirers.

John is a Project Consultant with HW Corporate Finance. He specialises in operational and project management and people / operational issues. Prior to this he was the manager of the Operations Management Practice of Anite PS Consulting. He has some ten years consulting experience following on from a successful career in industry managing businesses in both the manufacturing and service sectors. He is Vice Chairman of the Institute of Operations Management and a Prince2 accredited project manager.

Recent consultancy experience includes:

• Project Consultant on the successful development of merger proposals for the University of Glamorgan and Merthyr Tydfil College
• Reorganisation of the internal supply operations of a major midlands manufacturing group
• Analysis and redesign of the sales and customer service functions in a regional building society
• Project managing the establishment of a joint venture operation to bring a novel play system to market – including establishment of management structures, funding and business planning
• Reorganising and restructuring the manufacturing processes in a quality supplier to the construction industry
• Establishing effective management disciplines and procedures for all in-house projects for a regional newspaper group
• Re-designing and streamlining dispatch and goods handling processes and procedures for a major spectacle lens manufacturer
• Overseeing and project managing a highly effective operational improvement programme on behalf of the Welsh Development Agency