Azets' Corporate Finance team announces senior appointments and promotions

Azets has strengthened its national corporate finance offering, with two new appointments and three promotions across three UK regions.
 
Chris Archer and Gary Hyem join Azets as Partners, whilst David Simmons, Stephen Garbett and Nick Barker are promoted from Director to Partner.
 
The announcement follows Lee Humble’s recent appointment as UK Head of Corporate Finance and Tony Farmer as Executive Chair of UK Corporate Finance, as Azets continues to evolve its UK business into a national structure under the leadership of UK CEO Peter Gallanagh.
 
As a chartered accountant, Chris specialises in mergers and acquisitions. With over 30 years of experience across the world, he notably advises clients on both the seller and buyer side of deals. Working across a wide variety of sectors, including food and drink, he has recently completed several deals of tech and SaaS businesses to trade buyers backed by private equity. Chris will be based in the North East region.
 
Working across the Central region, Gary joins with more than 25 years’ experience advising companies and working with owner-managers and private equity-backed businesses. He has led on a range of deals valued from £2 million to over £100 million, across a broad range of sectors, including manufacturing, engineering, logistics, healthcare, business services and technology. Gary specialises in mergers and acquisitions, management buyouts, strategic options reviews, and raising finance for acquisitions, development capital and working capital.
 
Lee Humble, Head of UK Corporate Finance, commented: “It’s exciting to be growing our national corporate finance team at such a rapid speed, which enables us to keep up with demand from the market. Both Chris and Gary bring a wealth of expertise and knowledge to the team.”
 
Having joined Azets in 2021, David has specialised in corporate finance work since 1998. His focus is now on advising owner-managed businesses and their shareholders on growing their businesses and finding appropriate exit paths to maximise shareholder value. David also set up and runs a networking group for North West based finance professionals who like to run – the North West Finance Professionals Athletic Club – which has a membership of over 200 finance professionals. David is based in Azets’ Manchester office and works across the North West region.
 
Previously Corporate Finance Director, Stephen has been with Azets since 2017 and focuses on mergers and acquisitions as well as private equity and finance raising transactions. His experience spans a range of sectors including renewable energy, manufacturing, healthcare, IT, arts and leisure. Stephen will continue to serve the North East region.
 
With over 20 years’ experience, Nick joined the North East region of Azets in 2017. He has worked on a wide variety of transactions for owner-managed businesses, including business sales and acquisitions, MBOs and MBIs, and fundraising projects across several different sectors, including financial services, manufacturing, transport, veterinary and healthcare, retail, food and hospitality.
 
Lee concluded: “The promotions of David, Stephen and Nick are incredibly well deserved and showcase our commitment to promoting talent from within the business, as in line with our strategic vision.”