Lloyds TSB has defied the credit crunch to launch a corporate finance team in the Midlands.
The bank’s corporate markets group said despite the lack of money around the market they believed there was still enough activity in the region it would be able to turn a profit.
Andrew Connors, director and head of corporate markets in the West Midlands, said: “We are hoping this is going to make a significant change to the amount of work done from Birmingham.
“We haven’t done these kind of deals from there before. We are confident the deals are still there, and in terms of our product offering we felt there was a gap in the market.
The team, led by Mr Connors in the West Midlands and Andy Corbett in the East Midlands, will provide regionally based finance expertise, focusing primarily on debt-only led management buy-outs, mergers, acquisitions and the restructuring of leveraged debt.
Mr Connors said this was a new area for the corporate finance team at Lloyds, which has previously worked mainly on private equity-backed deals.
He said: “With Lloyds we have a long-standing corporate acquisition finance team but over time they have focused mainly on private equity deals.
“This corporate finance team is specifically focused. We have seen the demand for our existing products for this offering. The deal flow is not what it was, but for Lloyds TSB we still think there are deals.”
The team will include two experienced corporate finance directors taken on from outside. Liz Fuge and Stephen Fadian will work closely with Lloyds TSB’s existing relationship banking and acquisition finance teams.They both join Lloyds TSB from the Royal Bank of Scotland, where they supported businesses in the structured debt solutions team.
Both previously worked across the Midlands and have over 30 years’ experience.
“Stephen and Liz are a great addition, and we are really pleased to be able to offer customers such an experienced corporate finance team who bring considerable knowledge of the region and its businesses,” said Mr Connors.
“Despite tough market conditions there are deals to be done with well managed firms and we’re keen to continue to support business growth across the region.”
Mr Corbett said: “Lloyds TSB Corporate Markets has a great reputation nationally for corporate finance expertise, and our acquisition finance team is no exception.
“But there was a clear gap in the market for a dedicated team to support transactions across the Midlands.
“As a result, we’ve worked hard to build up a team with regionally based experience and expertise that is able to deliver high quality service and advice to our customers and advisors.”
