Saffery expands in Manchester with new corporate finance team

Saffery has announced the launch of its new North West corporate finance and transaction services team, with Hayley Brightmore-Cox joining as a partner in the Manchester office alongside directors Erin Berry and Jennifer Serridge, and manager Joe Donnelly.

The team has particular expertise in the lower mid-market, regularly advising on deals ranging from £5m to £50m, as well as larger transactions and providing strategic and commercial advice to businesses extending beyond individual transactions.

The firm recently celebrated 15 years of Saffery in Manchester, and in that time it has grown from fewer than 20 professionals to over 100 today. With the new addition of Hayley Brightmore-Cox, the total number of partners based in the city has risen to five.

Brightmore-Cox is the founder and former director of Knight Transaction Services, a division of K3 Capital, backed by Sun European Partners, where she led transaction support assignments for a client base including private equity, banks, and corporates across a range of sectors.

She works with both private and listed entities, ranging from pre-profit businesses to enterprises generating revenue of over £500m, providing a range of services including buy side due diligence, vendor due diligence, vendor assist and associated services, such as advice around carve outs, net working capital, locked box, and completion accounts reviews. Prior to joining the Knight Group, she worked for 10 years as a due diligence specialist at Mazars and Grant Thornton.

In addition, Berry joins the firm as a director, with over 10 years of experience working in business services and audit before moving into deal advisory. She has advised on a range of significant corporate transactions, including recently within the innovative SaaS, e-commerce, and manufacturing sectors.

Serridge also joins as a director and has over five years of experience providing transaction advisory services for clients of varying sizes and growth stages – with a particular focus on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

Lastly, Donnelly joins as manager, bringing additional experience in external audit from PwC across a wide array of sectors, alongside specialist corporate transaction support services.

Regarding the appointment, Hayley Brightmore-Cox said: “On behalf of the team, I am thrilled to be joining Saffery. We’ll be bringing our specialist corporate finance team in Manchester together with Saffery’s nationwide transaction support services and broader business advisory offering to create a truly market leading offering for the North West.

“The Saffery culture and ethos is a perfect fit for our established boutique service offering. As a people-oriented firm with the scale and infrastructure to both cope and care, we have an incredible opportunity to make a real impact in the North West merger and acquisition (M&A) market.”

Mike Hodges, partner and head of the Saffery Manchester office, said: “Hayley, Erin, Jennifer, and Joe are outstanding additions to the Saffery team in Manchester, and our national corporate finance offering. The North West is home to some of the most dynamic businesses in the UK with significant investor interest and the region proving time and again to be the most valuable deal making hotspot in the UK outside of London – a real testament to the innovation, enterprise and opportunity we see here.

“Hayley and her team are well known and highly regarded in the North West deals market, with an enviable track record and experience which brings tremendous value to the transactions they support and clients they advise. We’re very pleased to welcome them to Saffery and to be able to bring the firm’s corporate finance offering to the North West.”