EY has made 10 promotions to partner in transactions and corporate finance: Priyanka Agarwal (1), Eanna Brennan (2), John Divers (3), Rajan Goel (4), Lucy MacArthur (5), Rob Morris (6), Phil Preston (7), Kim Robinson (8), Christopher Walls (9) and Stuart White (10).

They are largely based in London, with Brennan in County Limerick. MacArthur is based in Glasgow and advises on infrastructure.

LAVA Advisory Partners has recruited Paul Joyce as partner from Forvis Mazars, where he spent eight years as head of the London M&A team. Prior to that he worked for Deloitte, Credit Suisse and PwC, where he trained as an ACA. He joins partners Hamish Martin and Simon Woodcock, who founded the corporate finance firm in 2020. He is LAVA’s sixth new recruit this year.

Midlands-based Headpoint Advisors has recruited Richard Benyahia as partner from Alantra, where he spent the last 12 years as director in its Birmingham office. He specialises in the industrials sector, and prior to joining Catalyst Corporate Finance (which was taken over by Alantra in 2017), he trained as an ACA with PwC.

FRP Corporate Finance has recruited Dan Sheahan as a partner to lead its new operation in Leeds. He has joined from Investec, where he spent nine years and was a managing director covering the North of England. Prior to that, he worked for PwC, DC Advisory, Close Brothers, EY and Arthur Andersen, where he trained as an ACA.

S&W has recruited Tom Lewin (1) as a partner to lead the financial services deal advisory team, from Investec, where he was a managing director. He spent four years at Investec, and prior to that was a corporate finance partner at KPMG. Before that he worked for Barclays, Rothschild and PwC.

S&W has also recruited Phil Gunter-Rees (2) as its energy and infrastructure lead in its valuations and modelling (V&M) team. He has joined from Grant Thornton, where he was a partner in the V&M team. Prior to that, he was a director at EY, where he spent seven years.

ICON Corporate Finance has promoted Ben Kolada to managing director and head of US tech investment banking. Based in the San Francisco Bay Area, he joined ICON in 2020 as a director from Catapult Advisers, where he spent four years. Before that he spent four years with the 451 Group, which is also based in San Francisco.

PKF Francis Clark has promoted Tom Hicks (1) and Victoria Smith (2) to corporate finance director.

Hicks joined the firm’s Exeter office in 2012, trained as an accountant in audit and moved into corporate finance in 2018. Smith, who specialises in renewable energy M&A, joined PKF from JLL eight years ago. She also previously worked for EY, UBS and PwC, where she trained as an ACA.

James Taylor has joined Cambridge-based PEM’s corporate finance team as assistant manager. He previously spent nine years at Kings Lynn-based Stephenson Smart, where he trained as an ACA, and had been promoted to manager. 

Forvis Mazars has recruited Nan Hao (1) and Natasha Punchihewa (2) as M&A managers in the firm’s London deal advisory team. Hao has joined from Azets, where she spent seven years and was a corporate finance manager. Prior to that she spent two years with Grant Thornton, and three with EY, where she trained as a chartered accountant. Punchihewa has joined from private equity firm Kings Park Capital, where she spent two years as an investment associate. Prior to that, she spent eight years at KPMG, where she trained as an ACA in audit, before moving into M&A.

Justin McKeegan has joined HMT’s corporate finance team as a director from consultancy Haven Green, where he was a managing director. Prior to that he spent five years at Singer Capital Markets and five years at VSA Capital in London, having started his career in his native Australia with Flagstaff Partners and Bell potter Securities in Melbourne.

Alvarez & Marsal has recruited Steven Kingham as a managing director in its global transaction advisory group in its Manchester office. He has joined from EY, where he spent 11 years, and led its transaction services team in Manchester. He specialises in financial due diligence in the TMT sector.

Harry Lowe has joined Cavendish in Birmingham as an M&A associate from PwC, where he spent six years, initially training as an ACA in the deals team, and subsequently becoming corporate finance manager.