BDO’s deals team has promoted seven people to the partnership: Elizabeth Acland (1), James Buckingham (2), Mark Jones (3), Waheed Mahroof (4), Kirsty McMahon (5), Ben Peterson (6) and Sarah Ziegler (7). 

Acland is based in London and has been with BDO’s valuations team for seven years. She joined from the valuations team at Smith & Williamson (now Evelyn Partners), and previously worked for American Appraisal. She trained as an ACA with Everett Group.

Buckingham advises on M&A and covers the Thames Valley. He joined BDO six years ago from BCMS (now Initium) in Newbury, where he spent eight years. Before that he trained as an ACA with RSM in Basingstoke.

Jones works in the transaction services team in London and has spent 13 years with the firm, where he trained as an ACA.

Mahroof works in valuations in London, where he has been for eight years. He previously spent 11 years with Duff & Phelps (now Kroll), working in valuations, having trained as an accountant at EY.

McMahon works in business restructuring and is a specialist in cross-border and contentious insolvency. She has been with the firm for 18 years, initially training as an accountant and an insolvency practitioner.

Peterson is based in Nottingham and is a business restructuring partner. He joined the firm 12 years ago from PKF, where he spent seven years. Before that he worked at Mazars for four years, where he trained as an accountant.

Ziegler has been with BDO for 23 years and heads up the firm’s private equity coverage. She trained as an accountant with the firm, spent the first 10 years of her career in forensic services and had a one-year secondment to BDO’s New York office.

BDO has also promoted Mark Shaw (8) to managing partner. He was previously head of restructuring and has been with BDO for 19 years. Before that he spent 13 years with Moore Stephens, where he trained as an ACA.

PwC has promoted Cara Haffey to UK leader of industrials and services. The key industrial sectors include manufacturing, professional services, automotive, engineering and construction. Haffey is based in Belfast, having originally joined PwC’s Glasgow office 24 years ago. She is a chartered accountant and has been an M&A deals partner for more than 10 years. She also heads up private business and deals in Northern Ireland. She has succeeded previous leader of industrials and services Nick Atkin, who has retired.

Price Bailey has recruited Mohammed Imran as a director in its strategic corporate finance team. He has joined from Technology Holdings, where he was associate vice-president in M&A, specialising in healthcare and life sciences. Prior to that he spent 11 years with BDO, where he trained as an ACA in audit before moving into corporate finance.

RSM has promoted Francesca Merlini (1) to director and head of deal origination. She is the firm’s France country lead and specialises in tech consulting and software. She joined the firm five years ago from DealGlobe, where she was a business development associate working on China cross-border M&A.

The firm has also promoted Kathy Hobbs (2) to director. Based in Manchester, she leads the sustainability and environmental, social and governance (ESG) services team, and is developing the firm’s ESG offering to private equity firms and their portfolios. She was previously head of ESG at NorthEdge.

Also in Manchester, Eoin Gribben (3) has been recruited as a business transformation director from KPMG, where he spent 13 years and trained as an ACA. He specialises in technology due diligence and complex divestment programmes.

Interpath Advisory has recruited Gareth Davies as managing director and head of technology, media and telecommunication (TMT) from Grant Thornton, where he spent seven years focused on corporate finance and strategic M&A advisory in the UK mid-market for the TMT sector. He started his career as a research analyst with Morgan Stanley before joining PwC’s M&A lead advisory team in 2006, advising on TMT. In 2012, he joined BDO as head of tech and media at BDO M&A, before joining technology specialist Acuity Advisors as a partner.

Cavendish has promoted Ben Lowe to associate director. He specialises in consumer sector M&A and joined the investment bank’s London office as a senior associate in August 2023 from FRP Advisory. He was previously with Birmingham-based Cattaneo Corporate Finance, where he spent five years. Prior to that, he worked for Spectrum Corporate Finance and Grant Thornton, having trained as an accountant with EY.

Scott Peters has joined Quantuma to head up its Midlands corporate finance team and national debt advisory practice. He will be based in Birmingham, but will also work in the firm’s London office. He previously worked in structured finance at both RBS and CYBG.

Nick Carr has joined UHY Hacker Young in Nottingham as corporate finance partner from Deloitte in the Midlands, where he was a director in corporate finance and spent 18 years. Before Deloitte, he spent four years as corporate finance associate director at RSM Tenon, and three years as corporate finance senior manager with BDO, having originally trained as a solicitor with Freeth Cartwright.

Victoria Sunley has joined Buzzacott as corporate finance assistant manager from Kreston Reeves, where she spent a year working in corporate finance. Prior to that she spent four years at Carter Backer Winter, where she trained as an accountant and worked in transactions.

Crowe has promoted Charlie Breese to associate director. He joined the firm as corporate finance manager from Shaw Gibbs, where he spent three years. He previously spent four years with Cardens Accountants.

Corbett Keeling has promoted Matthew Broadberry to corporate finance manager. He joined the firm four years ago as an M&A analyst.

LAVA Advisory has recruited Sunil Samani as associate director in its M&A team from EY, where he worked in strategy and transactions for seven years. Before that he worked for Gartner Invest and Goldman Sachs, having started his career at EY in transaction services.

Adam Croft has joined LB Group as head of deal advisory and M&A from KPMG, where he led the East Anglia deal team. He previously worked for FRP Advisory in Norwich, having spent seven years with JDC Corporate Finance.

Joe Anderson has joined PKF Smith Cooper in Nottingham as M&A assistant manager from Forvis Mazars in Leicester, where he was also an M&A assistant manager. He spent 10 years with Forvis Mazars, and moved into its corporate finance team in 2020.

Joseph Lowe (1) and Ben Skym (2) have joined Headpoint Advisers in Birmingham as corporate finance associates. Lowe has joined from EY in London, where he spent three years and trained as an ACA. Skym has joined from Deloitte, where he spent five years, training then as an ACA.

ChanChan Wang has joined Raymond James as a managing director in its European consumer advisory team. She has joined from Houlihan Lokey, where she spent nine years providing corporate finance advice to consumer, leisure and retail businesses.