Fenchurch Advisory Partners, the specialist corporate finance advisory firm to financial institution groups, has expanded its US office with the appointment of Mr. Gautam Chawla as Senior Managing Director and Co-Head of Fenchurch US.
Mr. Chawla joins Fenchurch with over thirty-three years of experience in investment banking, most recently as Vice Chairman and Co-Head of the Financial Institutions Group at Barclays. Before joining Barclays, he spent twenty-eight years at Citigroup, where he began his career, and held senior roles such as Co-Head of Global Insurance & Co-Head of North American FIG.
Mr. Chawla will work alongside Senior Managing Director and Co-Head of Fenchurch’s US office, John Sipp, to service US clients and advise on global transactions. Fenchurch, the only scale investment banking firm focused exclusively on the financial services sector, acts for leading corporate and financial sponsor clients as a trusted adviser on M&A, capital raisings and shareholder activism.
Mr. Chawla joins a growing team of over 70 investment banking professionals at Fenchurch, based in New York, London and Paris. Fenchurch opened an office in the US in 2022 and obtained its broker licence in January 2024.
Malik Karim, Founder and Chief Executive of Fenchurch Advisory Partners, said: “The appointment of a banker of Gautam’s experience is testament to the quality of our offer, global reach and continuous growth at Fenchurch. He joins us at an exciting time at Fenchurch, in our busiest year of transactions ever. Together with John Sipp and the senior team in New York, Gautam will make a deep impact on our clients and international advisory work.”
Gautam Chawla comments: “I have long admired the work of Fenchurch Advisory Partners, and am excited to join to help lead the growth of its US business. The Firm has built a highly capable team with a culture of innovation and collaboration that is focused on delivering exceptional results for clients. I look forward to partnering with my new colleagues as we continue the strong momentum across the financial institutions landscape.”
In the last 12 months since August 2024, Fenchurch has advised on over 20 transactions in insurance, banking, and asset & wealth management, including:
1. Groupe BPCE on its acquisition of novobanco (Value: €6.4 billion)
2. Hargreaves Lansdown plc on a cash offer from a consortium (CVC, Nordic Capital & ADIA) (Value: £5.4 billion)
3. Groupe BPCE on the combination of Natixis IM with Generali Investments (Value: c. €9.5 billion)
4. Cinven on sale of Viridium Gruppe to a consortium (Value: c. €3.5 billion)
5. Ardonagh on its minority investment from Stone Point Capital (Value: $14 billion)
6. Nationwide on the sale of Virgin Money’s D2C investment platform to Octopus Money.
7. Monument Re on the transfer of Greycastle portfolio to RGA (Value: €1.4 billion)
8. Wendel on its acquisition of a 75% stake in Monroe Capital (Value: Up to $1.4 billion)
9. Bain Capital & esure on the sale of esure to Ageas (Value: c. £1.3 billion)
10. Cinven on co-control stake acquisition in Policy Expert from ADIA
11. Chesnara on its acquisition of HSBC Life (UK) (Value: £260 million)
12. Apera Asset Management on the sale of a majority stake to Franklin Templeton
13. Argo Infrastructure Partners the on sale to Apollo Global Management
14. Jupiter on its acquisition of CCLA Investment Management (Value: £100 million)
15. Natixis IM on sale of MV Credit to Clearlake Capital
16. 180 Degree Capital on its merger with Mount Logan Capital (Value: c. $184 million)
17. Kayne Anderson BDC on its investment in SG Credit Partners (Value: c. $126 million)
18. Canopius & Fidentia Fortuna Holdings on the sale of ~21% stake to Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance
19. Legal & General on its acquisition of a 75% stake in Proprium Capital Partners
20. Hiscox on its acquisition of Corix (insurtech, US)
21. AJ Bell on sale of £3.2 bn AUM SIPP & SSAS business to InvestAcc
22. Oaktree / Atomos on its minority stake sale in Atomos to WTW
23. Mattioli Woods on its acquisition of Kingswood Group
24. LSQ on its sale to eCapital
