FRP GROWS LONDON RESTRUCTURING TEAM WITH KEY PUBLIC SECTOR HIRES

Specialist business advisory firm FRP has expanded its London-based restructuring team with two new senior hires.

Dan Conway joins as a partner from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), while Tom Berry joins as a director from UK Government Investments (UKGI), together bringing a combined 40 years’ public and private sector experience.

Dan – a chartered accountant and qualified insolvency practitioner – spent the first 18 years of his career at BDO in audit, assurance and restructuring roles. This included leading BDO’s corporate streamlining and liquidation team and a two-year secondment to Barclays Bank as part of its remediation programme providing redress to customers who were mis-sold interest rate hedging products.

Dan joined the FCA in 2015 and has since worked across a wide range of specialist teams and on many of the FCA’s largest and highest-profile resolution cases. In 2019 he was appointed to design the FCA’s supervisory approach to minibonds, and in 2020 was given responsibility for delivering the regulator’s resolution strategy for distressed regulated firms.

At FRP he will focus on supporting regulated financial services firms, their advisers and the FCA with restructuring advisory services.

Commenting on his appointment, Dan said: “FRP has built an impressive reputation in the industry for its quality of service and the expertise of its teams. Regulated firms have specific considerations to address when they face financial distress, and it’s essential they receive the right support as they navigate the restructuring processes.

“I’m looking forward to applying my first-hand experience of working with the regulator and with financial services businesses to help them through these procedures, and to ultimately secure the best possible outcomes for all stakeholders involved.”

Tom Berry – a chartered accountant – also began his career in audit at BDO before moving to Deloitte in 2006. In 2008 he joined Deloitte’s corporate restructuring group, working on major cases beginning with the insolvency of Woolworths and the regulatory response to the global financial crisis, and latterly served as an assistant director in its public sector restructuring team.

In 2018 he was appointed as an assistant director within UKGI – a body wholly-owned by HM Treasury, providing corporate governance and corporate finance services across the UK government.

Here, he served within the Special Situations Group focused on sectors and corporates where the risk of an economic shock could impact major employment or assets of national interest. Most recently, he worked with Government departments to support their economic response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

At FRP he will work closely with restructuring advisory teams across the business’ 23-strong office network to provide restructuring support to both private and public sector clients.

Commenting on his appointment, Tom said: “FRP has been making its mark by delivering positive outcomes on restructuring cases for some of the country’s biggest names. These remain challenging times for businesses, but the right restructuring solutions can help protect and recover value.

“In this role, I’ll be coupling my in-depth experience of Whitehall with my experience in the private sector to help businesses and public sector organisations successfully confront issues head-on and respond with constructive, effective and sustainable strategies.”

Jeremy French, Chief Operating Officer, FRP, added: “Dan and Tom are both highly experienced practitioners, demonstrating a track-record of successfully managing complex issues and each bringing hard-earned sector insight that will be invaluable to their clients.

“It is through our people that we are able deliver exceptional results for our clients, and as we enter a new year, we’ll be continuing to review areas where we can grow or bolster our teams to ensure we’re able to offer the very best support to our colleagues, and the businesses and organisations we work with.”