Working beyond compliance

Here at Gerald Edelman, we pride ourselves on always going beyond accountancy. Our services expand from the traditional matters of compliance all the way to deal advisory and M&A advice.

For this month’s team story, we caught up with Gerald Edelman’s Deal Advisory Manager, Jack Bettell, who gave us an insight into his role in the team and what he likes most about being a part of GE.

1. What is your current role?

I’m a manager in the GE deal advisory team where I manage M&A deals with the assistance of analysts and partners. Most of what we do is advising business owners who are either looking to sell, raise funds, or acquire other businesses.

2. What do you enjoy most about your role/GE?

I really enjoy working with such a variety of different businesses, having the ability to build relationships with clients and helping them to realise their goals. In the deal advisory team and GE generally, we work with businesses in many different sectors and all transactions are unique in their own way.

3. Have you always wanted to work in Deal Advisory/M&A? If not, what motivated you on to your current career path?

During my time at university, it became clear that I was very interested in finance. I worked appraising EIS investment opportunities for HNW, where I became close to some of the founders and discovered a passion for assisting businesses in raising capital or advising shareholders on exits. This ultimately drove me to look for a career in M&A advisory.

4. Why did you choose GE?

Gerald Edelman is an excellent firm and I even had the experience of working with GE prior to joining so knew generally who the firm is and what we stood for. I joined GE at a very exciting time as we looked to build up our Deal Advisory team and bring in experienced individuals to bolster our M&A advisory capabilities. I’m really proud to have been a part of building up our team to the point where we are now regularly completing excellent deals on behalf of clients.

5. What have been your biggest challenges so far?

The early stage of the pandemic was a challenge. We had a few deals put on hold and for some clients, our focus shifted towards advising through the tough times. However, we have seen the market pick up significantly from summer last year and are delighted to have been very busy over the last twelve months.

6. What’s been your biggest achievement?

I would say the Citihub Digital and Synechron Inc. deal. This was a cross-border transaction that I managed, involving many departments in GE including the tax team, the audit team, payroll, and company secretarial. It was a real joint effort. In the end, the outcome was a great deal for our client and for the future of the business, which was very satisfying to have achieved.

7. What are your goals for the future?

To continue to grow the Gerald Edelman deal advisory team and to keep executing great deals for clients. I’m also a part of GE’s sustainability committee and would like to engage in issues and develop the wider firm this way.

8. What advice would you give others that are seeking to pursue a career in Deal Advisory/M&A?

Make sure to develop your soft skills as well as hard skills. Your knowledge on paper will help you in the fundamentals of your role, but being able to effectively build client relationships and communicate will help you take that to the next level.