James Maclean, Director

James Maclean is a Deal Advisory expert (c.15 years) largely across Banking & Capital Markets including Payments & FinTech and Asset & Wealth Management. James is able to grasp business and operating models rapidly - transitioning between macro and detailed levels; and enjoy rolling my sleeves-up to solve complex problems through the deal lifecycle.

James Maclean's advice has underpinned investment strategies and valuations, and protected value through proposed mitigating actions.

James has been seconded to two banks working side-by-side with the banks’ Corporate Development teams; and have business partnered with the CFO of another bank.

Additionally, James is a Chartered Accountant experienced in Audit (30+) and IFRS. And he has recently completed the Oxford Saïd Business School’s Fintech programme – short thesis on PropTech.

James' unique combination of capabilities and experience brings significant value to Deal Advisory and specifically Value Creation (pre- and post-deal) and Operations in Deals.

Experience

Working in partnership with the C-suite and Boards of high-growth financial services businesses to PLCs, as well as PE and SWFs (100+ deals, total EV of £30bn+, range £60m-£5.6bn), has provided James with deep sector knowledge, financial and operational best practices, and expertise in shaping insightful financial, customer and operational analyses. James prioritizes transforming these insights into actionable business outcomes to support key decisions, whilst also harnessing value creation opportunities to assist senior management in effectively propelling their businesses forward. I’m experienced in:

Operations in Deals and Value Creation - buy-side due diligence, vendor due diligence (‘VDD’), vendor assistance (‘VA’), value creation (pre- and post-deal), separation, carve-out cost bases, integration
Financial Due Diligence - buy-side due diligence and assistance, VDD, VA, IPOs, carve-out financials, equity raises and refinancings
Commercial Due Diligence - market entry, size, growth and dynamics; and
Restructuring and Strategic Options - winddown and exit options

Notable client work and achievements

Summary of key achievements and capabilities

Building businesses and motivated teams

Scaled PwC’s B&CM Operations in Deals business from £0.5m in FY19 to £3.0m+ by FY21 through networking and building credentials, whilst expanding the team to 10+ colleagues recruited from banks consultancies and audit.
Originated and led Deal Advisory projects (e.g., Shawbrook’s consumer finance carve-out and ED&F Man Group’s divestment of Capital Markets division).
Built dynamic, high-performing teams across functions/ borders, promoting a diverse and inclusive culture.
Advocated for professional development through coaching, mentoring, and the development of performance guidelines, establishing a high-performance culture; and presented cross-functional trainings (e.g., value creation through income and cost synergies).

Client relationship development

Developed strong client relationships through being a trusted adviser on deals (e.g., Alcentra, Ares, JAB, Barclays, OpenPayd, Intercash, Shawbrook); and
Produced and presented insightful Points of View (‘PoV’) (e.g., PropTech for Nationwide, OSB, Paragon).

Landmark transactions

Successfully executed on large, complex and transformational deals (e.g., Barclays’ acquisition of Kensington Mortgages (EV £2.3bn), James Hay, backed by Epiris, public to private of Nucleus, the WealthTech platform, and subsequent majority sale of combined business to HPS Investment Partners (EV £0.7bn), CYBG’s acquisition of Virgin Money (EV £1.7bn).

Value creation

Established pre and post deal value creation opportunities, including estimation, phasing, one-off costs to achieve and planning/ transformation initiatives e.g., Nationwide’s acquisition of Virgin Money; income synergies - Roundhill Capital’s P2P of German real estate investor (c.15%); cost out - Customer banking for CYBG & Virgin Money (£43m), TSB (£46m), Commerzbank - retail (incremental £215m).

Business development and thought leadership

Drove numerous proposals and presented at pitches (e.g., Ares, HPS Investment Partners, Sainsbury’s Bank), shaping several market facing PoV (e.g., buy-side value creation on TSB for banks and PEs (2020), Non-Bank Lender business model pressures and market consolidation), written published articles (e.g., Why COVID-19 is the catalyst for change for Specialist banks and NBLs).

ACA qualified, IFRS conversions and regulation

Audit, IFRS conversion projects for international and Brazilian banks (e.g., Citi Bank, Bradesco).
Working knowledge of prevailing regulation incl. financial and operational impacts (e.g., New Consumer Duty, Basel 3.1, ESG, Open Banking, AI and Big data).