Dow Schofield Watts, the leading specialist professional advisory and equity finance firm with offices in Cheshire and Yorkshire, has continued its expansion plans with the appointment of Rob McCarthy as a partner to its Transaction Services team with effect from 1 September 2014. Rob will lead the provision of financial due diligence services in the Yorkshire & North East region working closely with the Corporate Finance team on acquisitions, business sales, financing raising and buy-outs.
Rob is the latest in a line of high calibre specialists to join the firm. Over the course of the last two years the DSW Group has grown from 28 to 38 across its corporate finance, due diligence, forensic accounting and business recovery disciplines.
Rob joins after spending a number years in North America, where he continued to build a successful career as an M&A adviser with KPMG and latterly working in a senior finance role with Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation. Prior to relocating to North America, Rob was a well-respected figure within the North of England investment community, providing professional services for over a decade with KPMG, where he undertook a leadership role in the Transaction Services practice.
Both in the UK and the US, Rob advised corporate, private equity and hedge fund clients on over 70 deals across a range of industries, including a specialist focus on the financial services sector. Rob has led buy-side diligence, vendor assist, vendor initiated due diligence and public transactions.
Rob said that he is “delighted to be joining Dow Schofield Watts during this important growth phase. Yorkshire, and more widely the North East, has a number of important business centres that are demonstrating increased deal volumes across a range of sectors – I look forward to joining a team which has established a reputation for working with businesses right across the region.”
Commenting on Rob’s arrival, Roger Esler, who leads the Corporate Finance team in Yorkshire and the North East said: “Rob’s appointment reflects our ambition and ongoing investment in the region and further reinforces our high quality, distinctive partner-led offering. This is an exciting time for Rob to be joining the firm – the M&A market continues to gather momentum and finance is increasingly available for businesses seeking to implement strategic plans or facilitate ownership succession. We plan to invest further across all of our specialist corporate finance services.”
James Dow, founding partner of Dow Schofield Watts said: “We are absolutely delighted that we have been able to further strengthen our award-winning Transaction Services team that we already regard as first class. The market opportunity continues to expand for this capable and talented team.”