Mr.
Kent is a Managing Director in Houlihan Lokey's London office.
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,
he spent four years at PwC in London with a focus on banking and capital
markets. 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:
- credit
and
specialty finance, where his experience includes banking
(e.g.
Shawbrook,
Aldermore, OneSavings,
Secure Trust, and BlueStep); consumer credit (e.g.
Provident
Financial,
Omni); asset,
business,
and
vehicle finance (e.g. Hampshire Trust
Bank, Lombard); first and second charge mortgages (e.g.
Ocean
Finance,
Nemo); and
NPLs (e.g. Lowell
Group, Cabot Credit Management, Marlin, Ultimo, and MCS;
- wealth
management and pensions, where his
previous clients have included Arbuthnot, AXA, Bellpenny,
Bestinvest,
Fortis, Invista
Real Estate, Punter Southall, Smith & Williamson, Succession,
and
Fleming Family & Partners; and
- fintech,
where
he advised Pollen
Street on the sale of Target Group, WeSwap on raising
growth capital,
and Nostrum on the sale to Equiniti.
In 2009,
Mr.
Kent advised
the
Icelandic government on the restructuring of its banking system and recapitalisation of
the three main banks (Landsbanki, Kaupthing
Bank, and Glitnir)—a
landmark
transaction in the banking sector.
Mr.
Kent
holds a BSc
in Economics
from York University and is a Chartered Accountant.