Corporate Finance Lunch 2025

Neave is a Senior Director with Alvarez & Marsal’s Global Transaction Advisory Group in Manchester and is also co-chair of the Corporate Finance Committee for pro-manchester.

With more than 12 years of experience in deals, Neave specialises in buy- and sell-side due diligence, including exit readiness and buy and build strategies. Her primary area of concentration includes working with mid-market clients, with a focus on private equity transactions.

Neave has worked with clients across a range of sectors, with a particular focus on professional services and tech enabled businesses and has been involved in some of the region’s highest profile transactions.

Neave is part of a market leading TAG EMEA team, with Alvarez & Marsal having invested significantly into its Manchester presence over the last year.

Stephen is a Partner in the Investment Team at ECI in Manchester, where he leads investments into high-growth businesses. With a passion for supporting ambitious management teams, Stephen has been involved in investments in several Northern software companies, including Mobysoft, CPOMS, and CMap. Stephen joined ECI in 2014 after spending his earlier career advising tech and services businesses in PwC. He holds an ACA and a degree in Economics and Politics from the University of York.

Neil is Managing Partner at Rickitt Mitchell and has worked with public and private companies on transactions including acquisitions, disposals, MBOs/MBIs, private equity work and IPO’s across a wide range of sectors.  Neil is also co-lead for the global healthcare team of M&AWW.

Deals acted on include; the £80m flotation of Van Elle Holdings Plc, the £49m disposal of Fredericks Dairies, the £30m sale of Vision Support Services to USA-based WestPoint Home, the sale of Antler Luggage to Australian Strandbags, the £26m investment into Veincentre from Palatine Private Equity and advising management of the subsequent sale to CBPE, the £26m sale of Talbot & Muir to Curtis Banks plc, the acquisition of Dutch owned Wight Salads Limited by APS Group to form a £100m+ turnover business, the dual fundraising from private equity investor BGF and a €1bn revenue European Corporate into APS Group, the £21m flotation of Instem plc and subsequent three bolt-on acquisitions and the £130m IPO of DJI Holdings plc.

Prior to joining Rickitt Mitchell Neil was at PwC’s Leeds office where he qualified as a Chartered Accountant in its assurance and business advisory department, having previously worked at GlaxoSmithkline in R&D.

Beth is a Managing Partner at Palatine and is Head of the Impact Fund.  Her role includes defining the strategy and process for selecting impact investments, to engaging with portfolio companies to create commercial returns and additional value through environmental and social factors, to tracking and reporting results to our investors and other stakeholders. Beth has a passion and commitment to ESG (environment, social and governance) for which the firm has won six British Venture Capital Association (BVCA) awards since starting their ESG programme fifteen years ago.

Beth has had several notable achievements including;

• 2023: Dealmaker of the Year at Insider’s North West Dealmakers Awards, becoming the first woman to win this award in 29 years.
• 2022 / 2019: Changemaker of the Year at The Rainmakers Awards.
• 2017: Winner of Investor of the Year at the City AM Awards.
• 2016: Winner of the Outstanding Individual Contribution Award at the BVCA Responsible Investment Awards.

Her accolades highlight her significant impact and leadership in her field over several years.

Beth joined Palatine in 2007 after having previously spent 10 years as a Management Consultant.  She holds an MBA with distinction from Manchester Business School now sits on the Advisory Board for the School.

Beth sits on the board of e-days, easyfundraising, tranScrip and Redmoor Health.

With over 20 years in the recruitment industry, Paul is an ex-Partner of an international legal recruitment brand and the founder and CEO of William James Recruitment.

As a business leader, entrepreneur, and investor, Paul has driven growth and innovation in start-ups across Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds, Edinburgh, and Dublin, spanning sectors such as recruitment, retail, property, sport, and law.

A former professional rugby player, Paul brings a competitive edge and passion for excellence to his leadership, instilling values of teamwork, resilience, and strategic thinking.

We are always open to new opportunities and challenges. This approach allows us to grow our business and expand our network, ensuring that we can meet the unique needs of our clients and candidates

Nick is a Managing Director and has been Head of Lloyds Mid Market Leverage Finance origination team since 2018. He has 19 years experience across various debt finance roles in the bank including restructuring, corporate and leverage finance teams, working with a wide range of private equity firms and corporates.

Lloyds Leverage Finance has a nearly 30 year heritage of supporting UK private equity firms with a current portfolio of c.130 PE-backed businesses, across a wide range of sectors, and with offices across the UK including London, Manchester, Birmingham and Edinburgh. Lloyds sees Manchester as the key regional private equity hub with c.1/3rd of the portfolio in the North demonstrating the crucial importance of both the North-West market, and of local advisors and sponsors to our business.

The business is looking to support sponsors acquire fast growth UK corporates and seeks to have a competitive product offering for its clients irrespective of size of the business or the sponsors preferred financing structure. The newly announced Partnership with Oaktree, which enables the business to take its single name hold for mid market opportunities from £25m to £175m, is an example of the business looking to grow in new ways.

Lisa is a Partner and Head of the award-winning Tax team at Cowgills. She is also one of nine equity partners who lead the strategic management of the Cowgills business.

Responsible for operational management of the tax services delivered by Cowgills, Lisa oversees a number of different specialisms including trusts, VAT, M&A transactional tax, corporate and personal tax compliance and R&D.

She joined Cowgills in 2015. Much of her career has been spent advising owner managed businesses for regional and national accountancy firms, including a period of working in international tax in the Middle East.

Lisa is also committed to mentoring and guiding women both within and outside the business. She understands the unique challenges women face in their professional lives and offers valuable insights and guidance and leads events to empower women. Lisa was the first female partner to join Cowgills and has encouraged recruitment and internal promotion of women across the business.

Jonathan Boyers is a Managing Director at Alvarez & Marsal and leads the EMEA Corporate Finance practice. He has over 35 years of Corporate Finance experience, advising a variety of clients on company disposals, acquisitions and private equity work across a wide range of industries.

Prior to joining A&M, Jonathan spent 32 years at KPMG. During his most recent role as UK Head of Corporate Finance, the practice saw rapid growth culminating in achieving its most successful trading period ever in his final year in charge.

Jonathan has advised hundreds of companies and entrepreneurs regarding strategy and corporate finance transactions.  He has won the Northwest Insider Magazine Dealmaker of the Year award four times and has also received the UK Corporate Financier of the Year award from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales.

Some of Jonathan’s most recent clients include Rolls Royce, Nationwide Specialist Services, Healthpoint and Yearsley Logistics.

Tim is the CEO of DC Advisory UK, part of the international investment banking arm of Japan’s Daiwa Securities. Tim joined in April 2024 from Radius, where he held the position of Chief Financial Officer. Tim brings over 25 years of investment banking experience, including leading the Rothschild & Co and EY Manchester teams during his career. He is also Chairman of the King’s Trust, North-West development committee, which raises funds to enable the Trust to support over 8,000 disadvantaged young people in the region to build confidence, get a job or launch a business each year.

Having spent half his career in the North-West, Tim is passionate about investing in Manchester and local talent to provide world class corporate finance advice and access to DC Advisory international expertise and relationships for the benefit of North-West businesses and investors.