LONDON, September 30, 2016
The M&A Advisor is pleased to announce that they have reached an agreement for the establishment of a joint venture with London based Shard Financial Media to expand the company’s event, publishing, media and consultancy services in the United Kingdom and Europe.
The M&A Advisor was founded in New York in 1998, as the first dedicated media company to offer insights and intelligence on mergers and acquisitions. Today, after expanding to London in 2014, the firm is recognized as the world’s premier think tank and leadership organization for m&a, restructuring and corporate finance professionals.
Led by finance media industry veteran, Luke Broadhurst, Shard earlier this year acquired the assets of Athene Publishing, a specialist publishing and events provider with a long-established reputation as the market leader in the UK Credit, Asset Finance, Turnaround/Business Recovery and Payroll sectors.
Since entering the European market in 2014, in addition to publishing the Best Practices of The Best Dealmakers series across the continent, The M&A Advisor has hosted the International Financial Forum, Cross Border M&A Awards and the Emerging Leaders Awards in London. As well, the company has engaged industry leaders from the UK and Europe to bring market analysis to its global constituency. Most recently, The M&A Advisor has published the finance industry’s most comprehensive address of the EU Referendum Vote and its effect on mergers and acquisitions, private equity and high yield bonds. This fall, through the establishment of a multi-lateral Task Force, the company will present a Playbook for corporate growth in the UK.
Under the terms of the agreement, Shard will produce The M&A Advisor’s events and media programs in the UK and Europe while the two firms will collaborate on restructuring and other financial services event and media properties in their respective markets. The M&A Advisor will continue to directly manage their EMEA market research, publishing and foreign investment consultancy service from London. In November, Shard and The M&A Advisor will co-host the Corporate Innovation Summit featuring the inaugural EMEA Corporate Development Awards to recognize excellence in strategic m&a.
“The UK and European financial markets are undergoing significant change at this time. The partnership with Shard combines our industry expertise together with their extensive market experience and will allow us to provide a more comprehensive range of services at a time when the corporate finance community can benefit from it the most,” states The M&A Advisor President and Co-CEO, David Fergusson.
Shard MD, Luke Broadhurst commented: “Building on the 20 year history of the predecessor company, Shard Media Group is developing quickly while enjoying a leadership position in the market with our significant event and media brands delivering valuable services to thousands of market leading institutions and organizations. Our expansion into the Mergers and Acquisitions and Corporate Finance sectors is a natural, strategic development for Shard and capitalizes on our vast financial services knowledge.”