Review of the M&A Funding Market in the North West – Views from a cross-selection of leading local funders

Jeremy Cole, partner, has more than 21 years of corporate finance experience, working with successful businesses. Jeremy trained as a Chartered Accountant with Spicer & Oppenheim (now Deloitte & Touche) before joining PricewaterhouseCoopers in 1989, in Manchester. He spent 3 years working in PWC’s Silicon Valley office in San Jose, California, in the mid 1990’s, working closely with entrepreneurial technology and life science companies and venture capital funds.

He joined North West accountants Hurst & Company as a partner in 1997 to set up a corporate finance division, which he ran successfully until 2001, when he was approached by independent corporate finance firm TMG to join them as a partner.

In July 2002 Jeremy decided to establish his own corporate finance firm and set up Cole Associates.

Jeremy specialises in management buy-outs and buy-ins, corporate acquisitions and disposals, raising finance and due diligence. Jeremy invests a huge amount of energy and enthusiasm into each client’s transaction and enjoys a close working relationship with clients.

Paul Ellaby is partner and Head of Corporate at Trowers & Hamlins’ Manchester office. Paul has many years’ experience of advising on a broad range of corporate legal matters. He advises companies, their shareholders and directors at every stage of a company’s life-cycle from start up, through growth and acquisition, to succession and flotation.

Fiona has over 16 years of transaction experience in a wide range of sectors with varying corporate and capital structures. She joined Foresight’s Manchester office following the successful raising of their second North West regional fund and is responsible for sourcing and completing new deals as well as managing portfolio businesses. Prior to Foresight, Fiona worked in the Corporate Finance team at Manchester Airport Group where she held a broad M&A and corporate finance role. Fiona started her career at Deloitte.

Simon has more than 30 years of banking experience, including more than 15 years in private equity-backed leverage finance. Simon recently served as HSBC’s Head of Mid-Market Financial Sponsors in the North. Having held the role for nearly a decade, Simon is well-known in the North west business lending market. Prior to HSBC Simon worked for Clydesdale & Yorkshire Bank and Lloyds Bank.

ThinCats provides £1-15m in long-term debt funding tailored to the needs of mid-sized businesses.

Matt joined Praetura as Sales Director in 2024, assisting SMEs, sponsors and advisors with Asset Based Lending solutions to support a broad range of event-driven transactions including mergers and acquisitions, refinancing for growth, turnarounds, management buy-outs and exits. With over 13 years’ experience in the corporate banking sector, Matt has worked across various divisions including business development, risk and portfolio. This experience has provided Matt with in-depth understanding of the SME market which in turn enables him to take a holistic and tailored approach when structuring funding solutions to help clients meet their objectives.

Michelle is a Director working within Barclays Large Corporate Lending team and leads the debt structuring and origination activity for Barclays in the North West region. She previously worked in HSBC in the Leveraged Finance team providing financing for private equity backed businesses across the North.