CEO MONTHLY / ISSUE 5 2022 5 Shaw&Co, thespecialist corporate financeadvisory firm, has appointed Rob Starr as its new Head of Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A). Rob joins the company from UHY Hacker Young, one of the UK’s Top 20 accountancy networks, where he was Corporate Finance Director overseeing acquisitions, sales, business funding and restructurings across a wide range of industries. With over 20 years’ experience in financial services, Rob has led and supported over 200 transactions with deal sizes of up to £200m across various sectors, as well as implementing successful growth strategies for FTSE 100, Mid-Cap, Aim, SMEs and early stage businesses. In his new role he will be responsible for leading and developing Shaw & Co’s M&A division which offers expert advice on all aspects of buying and selling a business including management buy-outs, management buyins, mergers, exit strategies and business valuations. The division has worked on a number of notable deals including the sale of Pukka Herbs to Unilever, the purchase of VoucherCloud from Vodafone and its subsequent sale to Groupon, and the sale of GoProposal to Sage. The appointment, part of Shaw’s and Co’s wider five-year development strategy, will also enable Jim Shaw, the company’s founder, to take on the role and responsibilities of a full-time CEO. This will include overseeing the expansion of the company’s presence from its Bristol headquarters across four further strategic locations - Birmingham, London, Manchester and Glasgow - as well as developing its service offering. Prior to joining UHY Hacker Young, Rob ran his own corporate finance and business strategy consultancy, and has also had spells with GKN, the Global Engineering Company, Care UK and PwC where he worked in the company’s London and Moscow offices. He holds a Master’s degree in Engineering Design and Manufacture from the University of Hull and an MBA from Warwick University. Jim Shaw, Founder and CEO of Shaw & Co, said: “This is a highly significant appointment for Shaw & Co that will play an integral role in our evolution from being a niche regional player into a nationally disruptive operator. We have previously been one of the ‘best kept secrets’ in the corporate finance sector and Rob’s appointment, supported by our new brand and website, will take us to the next level, enabling us to help even more business owners to achieve their ambitions and realise their business’s maximum value.” Rob Starr, Head of M&A, Shaw & Co, said: “I am delighted to have been given the opportunity to work with a renowned team of experts and a highly innovative range of clients and brands. I am looking forward to helping to transform the quality of corporate advisory services being offered to those looking to buy, sell or fund the growth of their business.” Shaw & Co Appoints Rob Starr as Head of M&A Kingswood Holdings Limited, the international,fullyintegratedwealthand investmentmanagement group, is today pleased to announce the appointment of Christopher Calvocoressi as Technology Transformation Lead. • Christopher Calvocoressi will lead Kingswood’s technology transformation agenda • Appointment follows the launch Kingswood Go, a buy recommendation fromfinncapand several UK acquisitions • Reinforces the firm’s ambitions to cement itself as a leading financial advisory and investment management business In his role, Christopher will be responsible for leading Kingswood’s technology transformation agenda and will also head up the further development of Kingswood Go, a recently launched online portal which allows clients to access their investments and hold all of their financial information online and in one place. Prior to joining Kingswood, Christopher was a Programme Manager focussing on technology transformation at Schroders Personal Wealth. Before this, he was part of the Wealth and Asset Management Advisory team at EY for nearly a decade, working across a range of consulting and transaction advisory engagements. Over the past few years, Kingswood has evolved into a growing international vertically integrated wealth and investment management group with £9.1 billion of Assets under Advice and Management and over 19,300 clients. So far this year, the firm has made four acquisitions in the UK, acquiring Allotts Financial Services Limited, a high quality, long established financial advisory firm based in Rotherham; D.J. Cooke (Life & Pensions) Limited based in Conisbrough, South Yorkshire; Joseph R Lamb Independent Financial Advisers, an advisory business based in Essex, and Aim Independent Limited, an independent financial advice business serving clients throughout Hampshire. The firm also acquired Metnor, the holding company for IBOSS Asset Management Limited and Novus Financial Services Limited, late last year. Christopher’s appointment also follows a buy recommendation for Kingswood Holdings from finnCap, the financial services advisory firm, which believes that the firm has the potential to deliver c£20.0m EBITDA and should hold a target share price of 39p. KWG has recently seen its share price rise by around 7% this year alone. David Lawrence, Chief Executive Officer of Kingswood Holdings Limited., said: “Christopher’s extensive skills and knowledge of leading best-in-class technology initiatives will help us to build propositions that help more people access financial advice and to enhance their experience, particularly in an increasingly digitised world. We’re delighted to have him on board. “As a firm, Kingswood has completely transformed itself within the space of just a few years creating a highly successful, fast growing international vertically integrated wealth and investment management group. The UK business has significantly increased its acquisition activity, coupled with a strong integration capability, organic growth credentials and focussed investment in client centricity. There is a significant pipeline of further acquisition opportunities with four transactions in exclusive due diligence fuelling the ambition to grow UK AUM to over £10bn.”
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