Grant Thornton has made three new promotions to partner in its deals, advisory and consulting leadership team: Amo Anim-Addo (1), Adam Bunch (2) and Andrew Frame (3).

Anim-Addo has joined the firm from Liberty Corporate Finance, where he was a partner, as private equity coverage partner, to build relationships with mid-market private equity funds. Before moving to Liberty he had spent seven years with EY, where he was a partner and UK head of origination. Before that he worked for Moelis & Co and Rothschild, having started his career with KPMG in 2000.

Bunch has been promoted to partner to lead and grow the firm’s TMT capabilities. He rejoined the firm as M&A director in 2020, from Maven Capital Partners. Prior to that he had spent 10 years with Grant Thornton, initially training as an ACA in the firm’s recovery and reorganisation team, then moving into corporate finance where he became associate director, before leaving for Maven.

Frame has been promoted to partner and head of education sector M&A. He joined the firm’s corporate finance team as a graduate in 2011 and trained as an ACA. He became a director in 2020.

And in Bristol Grant Thornton has recruited Ben Stevens (4) as corporate finance assistant manager. He joins from Bishop Fleming in Bristol where he spent five years, initially training as an accountant in audit.

Quantuma has promoted Tom Lucas (above) to corporate finance manager. He joined the firm in 2021 and trained as an ACA in its corporate finance team, before being promoted to manager in 2023.

ICON Corporate Finance has recruited Edward Burbidge (above) to a new role as head of emerging markets. For the past 14 years Burbidge has been CEO of I&M Burbidge Capital, a Nairobi-based corporate finance advisory firm he founded as Burbidge Capital, before selling to the East African banking group I&M in 2016. At Burbidge he provided M&A and fundraising advice to clients across Sub-Saharan Africa. Prior to that, Burbidge worked for Arbuthnot Bank in London, in corporate finance and equity capital markets. At ICON he will advise growing tech firms in Africa and India on M&A and fundraising.

Rachael Ellis (1) and Paul Kearney (2) have joined Cortus Advisory’s transaction services team as partners. Cortus has established offices in Preston, Manchester, Leeds and Nottingham, and is building out its offering in Birmingham, London and the South of England.

Ellis has joined from PwC, where she spent 10 years and was a director in the Midlands transaction services team to launch the firm’s Birmingham office. She originally joined PwC in the East Midlands, from EY in Nottingham, where she had spent five years, trained as an accountant and became a manager in transaction services.

Kearney has joined the transaction services team in London from RSM, where he spent 16 years in its corporate finance team, the last five as corporate finance partner. Prior to that he spent nine years with Grant Thornton, starting his career by training as an ACA in audit, before moving into its transaction services team. He has expertise in the TMT, business services and industrial and manufacturing sectors. As well as advising on deals, his role at Cortus will be to support the expansion of the firm’s footprint into London and the South of England.

Forvis Mazars has recruited Bhavesh Patel as associate director in its debt advisory and M&A team, where he will specialise in growth capital and tailored debt. 

He has moved from Close Brothers ABL, where he spent three years and was a director. Prior to that he spent 10 years with Deloitte – the first three in his native South Africa, where he also qualified as a chartered accountant, and the next seven in London, working in private equity and equity capital market advisory.

EY has appointed partner Hilary Heap (above) as the firm’s market leader for the north, and Manchester office managing partner. She has taken over from Stephen Church. Her 30-year career has been in the north of England. She moved to EY in Manchester from KPMG nine years ago as an executive director, and after a year was promoted to partner and head of strategy and transactions for the region. She had spent 21 years with KPMG, latterly as corporate finance director.

Interpath has recruited David Rochow (above) as director in its debt and capital advisory team. He previously spent six years with Alantra, where he was a senior vice president in its financial institutions group. Prior to joining Alantra in 2018, he spent two years at the speciality finance lender Bluestone and before that spent five years working with Desjardins Securities in Toronto.

LAVA Advisory Partners has recruited Cannelle Ramas (above) as an analyst. She has moved to London from Paris, where she studied at the Sorbonne and had internships in corporate finance with DM Corporate Finance and Rives Croissance.