UPDATES

AI in M&A webinar recording

In October, the Corporate Finance Faculty held its second webinar on the use of AI in M&A processes: Use of Proprietary AI Tools in M&A.

Following on from its webinar on how off-the-shelf AI tools were used in deal-making, this webinar discussed how customised AI tools can enhance decision-making, add value to the work of advisers and, ultimately, benefit clients. The session also covered the risks of using proprietary AI tools in M&A, and how that must be managed.

Speakers also discussed the importance of establishing clear client expectations and managing deliverables, illustrating these points with case studies. The panel included:

• Andrew Binstead, head of corporate development at global software business IFS
• Jan Chan, partner in transactions and corporate finance, and AI lead at EY
• Martin Knoebel, head of digital solutions and analytics at UK Power Networks
• Toby Popplewell, partner and AI product leader at PwC
• Russell Taylor, TMT deals partner at PwC.

“When you look at cost, speed and quality, AI gives you the opportunity to optimise on one, two or maybe all three of those on a deal process,” said Binstead.

And Taylor pointed to the trade off between deal sufficiency and deal certainty: “When you are at the start of a deal, how do you get the big questions answered quickly, so that you have got sufficient comfort to move forward with the deal?”

A series of Corporate Financier features next year will explore the themes raised in both these webinars.

UPDATES

Cortus Advisory joins the ranks

Corporate finance boutique advisory firm Cortus Advisory has joined the ICAEW Corporate Finance Faculty. The firm was set up in 2020 by CEO Nicola Merritt (1), COO James Groot (2) and chair John Hughes (3) – all of whom had worked together at KPMG. Merritt spent 12 years in the Manchester transaction services team at KPMG before joining DSW transaction services in 2014, where she was a partner. Groot, a restructuring and transactions adviser, worked for KPMG in Leeds between 2004 and 2018. Hughes, who spent 29 years with KPMG in Manchester, left his position as head of private equity in 2016.

Having established its first offices in Lancashire and Leeds, Cortus has since opened another four – in Birmingham, Nottingham, Manchester and London. Rachael Ellis joined in January 2025, as partner from PwC, to launch the new Birmingham office, and a month later Paul Kearney joined from RSM, as partner, to lead the new London office.

“We always did quite a lot of work with London private equity and we are moving that forward, so that we have more capacity to serve clients in London,” said Merritt. “That’s part of joining the faculty – to take part in more London events and be part of that network so we can raise our profile. We will be recruiting further for those two new offices.”

Cortus now has more than 55 staff, including eight partners and three directors. There are also five analysts on the books, who are training as ACAs whilst working in transactions.

In terms of services, Cortus offers buy-side, sell-side, vendor and lender due diligence, which accounts for around 75% of its assignments. Lead advisory, financial modelling, value creation and turnaround and transformation services accounts for the other quarter. Roughly three-quarters of its work is with private equity firms, either on buyouts or on rollouts and buy-and-build strategies for their portfolio companies. The mid-market private equity houses that Cortus has advised include LDC, Northedge, Palatine, Inflexion, ECI, Hyperion and Blixt.

The firm also works with large corporates and family offices – including RSK, a large and acquisitive environmental business – and became B Corp certified in September. It recentlyteamed up with Mortie r & Associés in France and Auricon in Germany to launch The Incoex Alliance – an international transaction advisory services partnership.

UPDATES

Salus Opitma joins faculty

Fintech company Salus Optima has joined the ICAEW Corporate Finance Faculty. The business, which uses AI and data analytics for clients in the financial services sector (as well as the healthcare and insurance sectors), was founded by CEO Rodrigo Jesus (1) in 2018.

“We founded the business in partnership with McLaren Racing,” said Jesus. “They obviously could use data analytics for marginal improvements, like all F1 motor racing teams. At that time, the volume of data was exploding in health and wellness, with new devices, phones, watches, odometers. Initially we used real-time data from devices to effect positive lifestyle changes, and very quickly gained customers in the pharma and healthcare sectors.

“Realising that financial services was another data-driven sector, we subsequently moved into offering our AI and data analytics skills, and knowledge of large language models to businesses in that sector.”

In the financial services sector, the business’s clients now include private equity funds, credit funds, accounting firms, M&A advisory and corporate finance boutiques. “We are tech-driven, using tech to get better accuracy and quicker results,” said Jesus. “Using our products results in a more robust due diligence process. You can do more with the same resources, and with the same time constraints.”

The Salus Optima product DDFlow AI helps clients accelerate due diligence workflows, crunching the data from external sources and making sense of the information quicker – “something that, with the amount of data we have, humans could not possibly do”.

DDFlow AI can be used to help:

• data integration: automatically structuring diverse data room inputs;
• visualisation: summarising data and identifying gaps in real-time;
• actions: generating AI-backed insights with a full audit trail; and
• automated reporting: investment committee memos, quality of earnings and reputational risk analyses.

Key employees, alongside CEO Jesus, include: Eduardo Jacob (2), chief technology officer; and Thays Seekings (3), client solutions lead, who trained as a chartered accountant with EY in Edinburgh.

FUTURE EVENTS

Dates for the diary

January 16

The Corporate Finance Faculty’s first webinar of the new year, Prospecting for Deals in 2026, will be on 16 January 2026, from midday until 1pm.

What does 2026 have in store for private equity, corporate M&A and capital markets? Goldman Sachs economist Jari Stehn will give a presentation on economic macro trends and Russell Enright of SS&C Intralinks will present an overview of 2025 and likely deal activity by sector in 2026.

There will also be a panel discussion, followed by a Q&A session. Faculty members can book a free place via the booking page.

February 10

The next Corporate Finance Faculty careers event – M&A careers & AI: The human differentiator – will be held at One Moorgate Place Club, Chartered Accountants’ Hall, on 10 February 2026. The guest speaker will be Charindra Pathiwille, Deloitte managing partner for strategy, risk & transactions advisory. 

• Book here