John Ward's CV

John launched J Ward Advisory in order to utilise his extensive corporate finance experience to advise management teams of high growth companies on M&A strategy.

Having previously provided acquisition financing to leading private equity funds, John understands how to negotiate with large international investors.

John has contacts at leading global investment firms, as well as knowledge of the investment appetite and objectives of a wide range of international investors.

John's LinkedIn profile can be viewed here.

Advised Irish companies across a range of sectors on Mergers & Acquisitions.

Deals included advising Kepak Group on its acquisition of 2 Sisters Red Meat Limited, a business which generated revenue of over £550 million.

John was a published Credit Research Analyst, writing reports on high yield bonds and leveraged loans, which were used to inform the investment decisions of Acuris’ client base of investment banks and credit funds.

Acuris is a leading global financial intelligence platform. John interacted frequently with major investment funds, as well as liaising with colleagues across other divisions of Acuris, such as financial news platform MergerMarket, to gain a complete picture of the latest developments in financial markets.

John was interviewed by Dealreporter Europe for his analysis of GVC's acquisition of Ladbrokes Coral for over £3 billion. The interview is available here.

John was a Credit Analyst in the Leveraged Finance division of Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation’s London office.

John was the Primary Account Manager for loans of over USD 150 million to a portfolio of eight companies owned by Private Equity.

John was involved in negotiations of loan facilities agreements, presentations to gain approval from the bank’s credit department, and regular meetings with portfolio companies and their private equity owners.

John was part of the SMBC deal team which acted as Bookrunner and Mandated Lead Arranger for the financing of KKR's buyout of LGC.

SMBC is part of the Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, which is classified as a Globally Systemically Important Bank by the Financial Stability Board.

John started his career in the Acquisition & Strategic Finance division of Natixis’ London office.

Member of deal teams which provided £300 million of debt financing supporting the acquisition of Survitec by Onex, and c. €350m of financing supporting the acquisition of Nordic Cinema Group by Bridgepoint.

Natixis is the investment banking division of Groupe BPCE, the second largest banking group in France.

John has a degree in Business Mathematics & Statistics from the London School of Economics.

LSE is one of the world's leading universities for economics and related disciplines.