Business and finance adviser Grant Thornton has boosted its corporate finance advisory team in the Midlands with the promotion of Maria Thomas to director.
Mrs Thomas joined Grant Thornton in 2007 and advises clients on a wide variety of disposals and mergers and acquisitions, latterly building on her expertise in cross border transactions. Her new role will involve greater involvement with Grant Thornton’s leadership team, helping to drive and develop the firm’s local corporate finance advisory service.
High profile deals which Mrs Thomas has advised on include the sale of a majority stake in Leicestershire-headquartered packaging business Logson Group to Belfast-based W&R Barnett; the shareholders of trailer leasing company Grayrentals Plc on its disposal to Hong Kong International Aviation Leasing Company; Harris & Sheldon Group on the sale of its iconic fishing brand Hardy & Greys to US-based Pure Fishing; South Korea’s Doosan Industrial Vehicle UK on its acquisition of Rushlift Limited and the acquisition of Telford-based Preston Innovations by US-headquartered Zebco Brands, a division of global leisure and lifestyle business W C Bradley.
Mustafa Abdulhusein, who leads Grant Thornton’s corporate finance team in the Midlands said: “Maria has been instrumental in helping to bring these deals and many others to fruition by directing not just the transaction process but also supporting her fellow team members to achieve the best possible outcomes for our clients. She also works hard to develop and nurture strong relationships with a network of professionals and corporate contacts across the Midlands which have benefited the business and contributed to her success.”
Chris Frostwick, practice leader at Grant Thornton in Leicester, added: “Maria’s promotion is very well-deserved. She embodies Grant Thornton’s ethos of putting her clients’ front and centre of everything she does, helping our dynamic clients to achieve their ambitions. Helping our clients maximise value is a key part of our service offering and Maria’s promotion further bolsters our talented corporate finance team.”
Last year Grant Thornton topped the Experian CorpFin league table as number one financial adviser to UK companies by deal volume for the fourth successive year, advising on 128 publically disclosed deals in 2015.
Grant Thornton has its East Midlands office in Leicester, where it has approximately 160 staff providing business and financial advice across Corporate and Personal Tax, audit and assurance, employer solutions, corporate finance, and sustainability, to organisations across the East Midlands.
