Grant Thornton boosts Bristol corporate finance team with new director

Published by

Peter Davison

Adam Hughes

Business and financial advisory firm Grant Thornton has announced the promotion of Adam Hughes to debt advisory director in its national corporate finance team.

Adam will be based at Grant Thornton’s Bristol office and will be a key part of the debt advisory team’s leadership.

The team works with private businesses and financial sponsors on raising and refinancing debt to help firms find the right lender and debt products.

In this role, Adam will focus on delivering debt raises for a wide range of purposes such as M&A, expansionary CapEx, growth capital, refinances, and recapitalisations.

Helping to grow Grant Thornton’s national debt advisory team will be a central aspect of Adam’s position. Since Adam joined the team in September 2021, from his previous role of director of structural finance at NatWest, it has expanded from two to seven people and is looking to increase further. This is testament to significant investment in the team and a rising demand for its expertise.

“I’m excited to be taking up a leadership role in Grant Thornton’s debt advisory team, especially as there’s a significant requirement in the market right now for this type of advice," said Adam.

"There’s a lot of entrepreneurial companies that are looking for new ways to grow, innovate and develop, and we can help them navigate the increasingly complex debt markets they’re facing to ensure they have the insight and knowledge to meet their goals.

“We’ve seen this demand across the board, with especially high levels of activity in healthcare; technology, media, and telecoms (TMT); recruitment and training; nurseries; and business services. With the current interest rate environment, it’s even more vital for businesses to look at their funding structure and understand if it’s right for them or if they need support to talk to lenders.”

Peter Jennings, corporate finance partner at Grant Thornton, said: “Adam’s promotion is a fantastic testament to his skills and achievements as well as Grant Thornton’s commitment to growing our national debt advisory service across Wales and the South West.

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"Building on a culture that prioritises the development of our people ensures that we are well placed to continue growing our capacity for delivering excellent levels of client service across the region and beyond.

“M&A remains a core component of Grant Thornton’s service offering, a specialism all the more critical as we navigate the ever shifting challenges and opportunities that confront our clients in the mid-market.

"Our continued investment in our people ensures we are well placed to lead our clients through this dynamic environment in the months and years ahead.

Peter Davison

Peter Davison is deputy editor of The Business Magazine. He has spent his life in journalism – doing work experience in newsrooms in and around Bristol while still at school, and landing his first job on a local newspaper aged 19. By 28 he was the youngest newspaper editor in the country. An early advocate of online news, he spent the first years of the 2000s telling his bosses that the internet posed both the biggest opportunity and greatest threat to the newspaper industry and the art of journalism. He was right on both counts. Since 2006 he has enjoyed a career as a freelance journalist. He lives in rural Wiltshire with one wife, two children, and three cats.