About

Engaging and Impactful Middle Market M&A Training From Origination Completion

About James

James is Managing Director and lead trainer at Financa and set up the business in 2021

Having spent 10 years working in the middle market M&A environment, James thought there was something missing from corporate finance training and decided to set out to create a modern, holistic and bespoke training suite catering for the middle market M&A space only. Find out more about the curriculum here.

The objective of James is to help individuals become technically exceptional, and develop refined commercial acumen backed with emotional intelligence. Find out more about James’ view on what makes a good M&A advisor and private equity investor here.

James is a Chartered Accountant (ICAEW) and previously worked in M&A at Alantra, Shore Capital, KPMG and in Audit at PwC. In 2021 he obtained a Diploma in Transformational Coaching accredited by the European Mentoring and Coaching Council and in 2023 became accredited with Lumina Learning to provide personality portraits. Find out more about this here.

Outside of running Financa, James plays the piano, enjoys country walks with his partner Hannah, is a happy new dad to Florence and is an aspiring dog owner. James has confirmed with Hannah that Florence will receive no M&A tutoring until she is at least 5 years old.

Why Financa focusses on the Middle Market M&A environment

Stage in the cycle

Businesses in the middle market are high growth, entrepreneurial and less mature than their bulge bracket counterparts. They’re a joy to work with.

Deal volume

By its nature, there are more businesses in the middle market transacting creating a highly vibrant M&A environment. 90% of M&A volume sits in the Middle market space.

Commercial culture

The majority of middle market businesses are not under the auspices of the Takeover Code meaning a truly commercial approach can be applied to M&A.

Deal execution style

The way you do deals in the middle is very different to the bulge bracket. The middle market deserves its own training curriculum niche.

Narrow ownership

As an M&A advisor, one gets access to the key people who run and own the business which is a privilege. It’s great to see what makes these people tick.

Relationships

The middle market is a place founded on relationships. Everything is possible if you are a strong people person and can win the trust of others.

Financa corporate finance training attributes

Detailed and granular

Technical content drills down into fine details to the extent that it surprises people when they see it.

Embedded in commercial thinking

We always consider the commercial thought process behind why we are doing something, and the bigger picture / key message.

Case studies

Real world application runs through the content and this is informed by current M&A mandates advised on.

People and process focus

We focus on the actual process of buying and selling businesses and situational dynamics, rather than just what a buyer friendly locked box looks like.

Test exercises and quizzes

We validate understanding through in-class quizzes provide mark schemes so learners can evaluate and benchmark their own performance.

Mix and match

Get exactly what you need for your team. There is no standardisation in what Financa offers in face to face courses.

Corporate finance training use cases

Corporate finance firms and investment banks

Create a world class M&A execution team and attract the best talent.

Private equity investors

Plug technical gaps for new investor hires into your team.

Corporate development teams

Win more value on deals through a detailed and technical approach to negotiation.

Lawyers

Broaden commercial knowledge to credibly provide M&A view points.

NEDs and board advisors

Ideally there would be some distinction, and Analyst 1s should be split from Associate 3s or equivalent
In general as long as there are not large disparities in experience levels, a year or so apart is fine

Careers preparation

Get the edge on the competition and land the job you want.

Why use a specialist middle market corporate finance training provider

Effective teaching style

James is not only a middle market M&A specialist, he is trained to train, and get the best out of everyone through a highly engaging and enthusiastic style.

Saving time

It takes a long time to create exceptional quality learning materials and keep them up to date. Financa has a huge volume of resources which can be tailored for you.

Reducing lead times

An external provider typically delivers faster than aligning internal resources and we can help you decide the right approach sooner.

Creating psychological safety

Enable a vibrant learning environment where everyone feels comfortable to ask the questions on their mind in confidence.

Enabling a rounded experience

Benefit from training showing a broad range of methods, constantly created and informed by the experiences of other training sessions and past deals.

Saving cost

Learning platforms and apps are expensive, and content creation and planning means you aren’t billing fees and making investments.

Winning the talent war

Use this as a way to attract the best talent, then reduce the time they spend on stressful “figuring it out” moments so they deliver more.

Peace of mind

The development of your team is on our minds and we have you covered. Training counts towards ICAEW CPD so you don’t have to think about keeping compliant.

Expedite the learning curve

Rapidly expedite the learning curve. No time spend out of the business on ineffective training. It’s compact, focussed and succinct.