Mr. Kent is a Managing Director in Houlihan Lokey’s FinTech Group and co-leads the European Financial Services & Technology team. He is based in the firm’s London office.
Previously, Mr. Kent was a Managing Director with Quayle Munro prior to its acquisition by Houlihan Lokey in 2018. He joined Quayle Munro in 2014 from the Financial Institutions Group at Canaccord (formerly Hawkpoint). Prior to Hawkpoint, Mr. Kent spent four years at PwC in London with a focus on banking and capital markets. While there, his clients included Barclays, Dresdner Kleinwort, and J.P. Morgan.
Throughout his career, Mr. Kent has advised on a wide range of completed transactions, including sales, acquisitions, capital raisings, IPOs, debt financings, and restructurings. Mr. Kent has primarily focused on businesses in the following sectors:
- wealth management, specialist asset management, fund admin, and pensions/retirement, where his previous clients included Arbuthnot, Ascot Lloyd, AXA, Bellpenny, Bestinvest, Cardale, Clara, Formues, Fortis, Goodbody, IFG (Saunderson House/James Hay), Invista Real Estate, LCP, Paternoster, Punter Southall, Sakra, Saltus, Solomon Capital, S&W, Succession, FF&P, Mobius Life, Redington, and Wren Sterling.
- banking, credit, and payments, where his experience includes banking (e.g. Allica, Shawbrook, Aldermore, OSB, STB, Masthaven, BlueStep); consumer credit (e.g. Nostrum Technologies, Provident, Omni, Close Brothers RF, Lowell POS); asset finance (e.g. Odessa Technologies, Asset Alliance, HTB, Lombard); mortgages (e.g. ENRA, Target, Ocean, Nemo, Optimum); NPLs (e.g. Lowell Group, Cabot, Marlin, Ultimo, MCS); and payments and distribution platforms (e.g. Totally Money, SmallWorld, DNA Payments).
Mr. Kent holds a BSc in Economics from York University and is a Chartered Accountant in the United Kingdom.