New appointments boost Yorkshire Bank's Specialist & Acquisition Finance Team

Yorkshire Bank today announced three new appointments to support the growth of its specialist & acquisition finance team for the North West of England.

Peter Smith, Ian Hardman and Owen Malton will all join the team as directors for specialist & acquisition finance. Owen and Ian will be joining the team from 4 September and Peter will be commencing on the 11 September. All of them will report directly to Paul Shepherd, regional director of specialist & acquisition finance for the North West.

The new recruits will enhance an existing team which identify and develop new business opportunities within the corporate finance community in the North West of England, specialising in management buy-outs and buy-ins, business acquisitions, share buybacks and specialist property transactions. They will also work closely with all of the Yorkshire Bank Financial Solutions Centres (FSCs) in the North West.

The continued growth of the specialist & acquisition finance team consolidates Yorkshire Bank's push into this sector and the new recruits will be central to establishing Yorkshire Bank as a key player within the North West corporate finance market.

Peter brings with him over 25 years of experience in banking, most recently as director at Bank of Scotland Corporate. In this role, he sourced and brought on new business opportunities mainly in the Acquisition Finance area. Before occupying this role Peter spent 23 years working with NatWest.

Ian Hardman brings with him over 13 years of experience with Yorkshire Bank, rising to the role of partner at the Manchester Financial Solutions Centres in 2004. Prior to this role he occupied a number of roles within business banking at the bank.

Owen Malton joins Yorkshire Bank from the Tenon, accountants and business advisors, where he held the position of Director Corporate Finance, in the North West, since July 2001. In this role he worked closely with the lead advisory team in the writing of business plans, placing funders in front of management team, obtaining finance for transactions and negotiating with funders in respect of finance raised for corporate finance transactions. Owen has over 25 years experience in finance with previous roles at Euro Sales Finance and NatWest.

The new recruits will add strength to Yorkshire Bank's specialist & acquisition finance team in assisting businesses in the North West region looking for advice and funding for corporate acquisitions. By offering a bespoke, fully intergrated, finance package to its customers, who are referred to as members, the bank aims to attract significant levels of new business at a key time in the bank's development.

Peter Smith comments: "Yorkshire Bank is well established in the corporate marketplace and by expanding the specialist & acquisition finance team in the North West, they have shown that they have a very strong appetite to transact in the acquisition finance marketplace. From a personal perspective this offers me a very exciting opportunity to build upon the good relationships that I have built up over the last 5 years."

Ian Hardman said: "I am delighted to have joined the rapidly expanding acquisition team here in Manchester, which I think will assist in the continued growth of the business here in Manchester City Centre. The recent appointments to our team have placed us in a commanding position ahead of our local competitors, as we have established an excellent mix of experience, enthusiasm and a proven ability to deliver. Backed by a large appetite to provide bespoke corporate funding packages to our existing and new members, I believe we are entering further exciting times for the Bank."

Owen Malton comments: "I like the fact that Yorkshire Bank has an excellent reputation for being an entrepreneurial, customer focussed, can-do organisation and with the new skills and experience being added to the team, together with the commitment from the Executive of the Bank to grow our presence in the North West market in respect of specialist & acquisition finance, I was attracted to be a part of this exciting opportunity."

Over the last two years Yorkshire Bank has focused its activities on developing a new model of banking that is attractive to private individuals as well as corporate customers - where integrated business solutions are offered to commercial businesses, entrepreneurs and high net worth individuals via a network of  innovative Yorkshire Bank FSCs.