Catalyst bucks trend with two new partners

Catalyst announces the appointment of two new Partners, Jamie Hope and Mark Wilson.

Hope will focus on Catalyst’s private equity advisory services in the Midlands, where his appointment rewards his significant contribution to the growth of the Midlands business in recent years. In that time he has advised on several of the firm’s most successful transactions, including the £25 million disposal of Aqualux and the £28 million buy-out of Stone Computers. As part of his new role, he will be responsible for transaction origination and the execution of buy and sell side mandates.

Reflecting on his promotion, Jamie commented: “I am delighted to be joining the partnership and look forward to building on Catalyst’s reputation for providing high quality M&A advice to the mid-market. Whilst these are challenging times for many of our clients, we do believe that our bespoke approach will ensure that the opportunities that they are presented with can be fully exploited”.

In his new role, Wilson takes overall responsibility for Catalyst’s international capability as well as becoming a board member of Catalyst’s international group Mergers Alliance. He will also provide operational support for Catalyst as it continues to extend its reach across the UK and increasingly overseas.

Wilson, who joined Catalyst in 2004 from the Dutch based Greenfield Group, said: “Having spent a number of years developing our international capability I am delighted to be leading the continued development of this important aspect of our business. Recent successes, such as the disposal of the German business TGE to a Chinese acquirer CIMC and the sale of Aqualux to Swiss Group AFG, clearly demonstrate our ability to deliver international M&A transactions and we continue to see further cross border opportunities for many of our clients.”