Corporate Finance – Keeping your finger on the pulse

Alison Stuart has been the Bank of England’s agent for the North West since January 2021. Prior to this, she worked at the International Monetary Fund in Washington DC for fifteen years, after starting her career with the Bank of England.

Alison studied economics at Sheffield University (first degree) and Birkbeck University of London (master’s degree).

Alison grew up in Leeds. Her interests include rugby union, cricket, football and hiking.

Lizzy is a corporate partner at Eversheds Sutherland, with a focus on private equity. Lizzy’s clients include large corporates, private equity houses, private equity backed businesses and management teams. Lizzy is listed in the current editions of Chambers & Partners and Legal 500, was included within Legal Week’s 2019 article entitled ’40 Under 40: The Rising Stars in Private Equity’ and was awarded the title of ‘Associate of the Year’ at the Manchester Law Society Legal Awards in 2016.

Sam is a senior partner in Cowgills and leads the corporate finance team. In addition, Sam heads up the Manchester office and leads the Technology, Media, and Telecoms (TMT) sector team.  Sam is a senior deal adviser having completed in excess of 100 deals, with extensive experience of completing deals, both as an advisor and as an investor.  His primary focus lies within the technology, media, telecoms, and consulting sectors.  In addition to his role M&A, Sam also provides strategic guidance to shareholders.  He understands the intricacies of value creation and business growth, positioning himself as a strategic partner, often working with clients over many years ahead of a transaction.  Cowgills is recognised by their peers as a market leader in lower mid-market advisory, through winning several industry awards.

Sajid is a CFO with over 25 years of experience, having split his time between the UK and the Middle East. In the UK he held senior positions with BAe Systems, Lear Corporation, and the Caudwell Group. Whilst in the Middle East he was the CFO for Airbus and Ingram Micro.

Since 2016, Sajid has been focused on supporting SMEs’ and start-ups by taking on the CFO position in those companies and /or investing in them as an early shareholder.

In the UK, Sajid works with The CFO Centre in order to support SMEs via multiple fractional CFO roles.

Dan is a Director at Michael Page, a FTSE listed recruiter, with primary responsibility for teams recruiting qualified finance and legal professionals across the North of England.  Dan is also the office lead for Manchester and personally has an interest in the Manchester corporate finance community.  Either through supporting advisors with their hiring, or fast growth/turnaround business both pre and post investment to unlock growth through their people acquisition and retention strategies.

Dan is a Director at NorthEdge Capital, a regionally focused mid-market Private Equity investor with offices in Manchester, Leeds and Birmingham. NorthEdge manages over c.£1bn of funds aimed at £5m – £50m investments in lower-mid market buy-out and development capital transactions within Technology, Healthcare and Business Services. The majority of NorthEdge’s investments are backing management teams and businesses receiving Private Equity investment for the first time.

Dan has been with NorthEdge 8 years and leads their Technology investment team. Recent investments have included Cloud Technology Solutions (public cloud services and software), CMap (professional services automation software), Cezanne (HCM software) and Distology (cyber security services).