BDO appoints Richard Austin as Corporate Advisory Partner

The UK’s sixth largest advisory and auditing firm has appointed a new Corporate Advisory Partner. Richard Austin joins BDO’s London office from Thorngate Advisors, having previously spent time with several other management consulting firms.

BDO has attracted more than 60 new partners to the business in the last two years, and in recent months the consultancy has been making a concerted effort to strengthen its team in the UK’s capital city. This last saw BDO announce the appointment of Gurpal Ahluwalia as a new M&A Partner in London in July. Now, in response to changing demand in the firm’s corporate advisory segment, BDO has brought in a new Partner in the shape of Richard Austin.

With a large number of restructuring and administration processes having already occurred across multiple industries in 2018, with the pressures of post-Brexit Britain still to be fully realised, it is a sector that is likely to yield high demand in the coming years. As a result, industry stalwart Austin will now work to strengthen BDO’s business restructuring team, with immediate effect. This will include working with both healthy and under-performing companies where there is opportunity to drive value and profit.

Austin has more than 20 years’ experience in consultant and was previously Managing Director at Thorngate Advisors where he spent more than four years. Prior to this, Austin worked in a succession of transformation roles across multiple industries, after a sustained period in the consulting industry. Before two years as Alvarez & Marsal's European Procurement & Supply Chain Leader, Austin spent three years at AlixPartners, latterly as a Director, a year as a Senior Manager at Efficio, and seven years with A.T. Kearney having arrived in 2000.

Commenting on his appointment, Austin said, “I am thrilled to be joining a team with such a strong collaborative culture. My previous experience working with both corporate and PE businesses aligns perfectly with the client heartland of BDO and I am looking forward to helping these businesses optimise their operations to improve working capital and deliver improvements to the bottom line.”

Paul Eagland, Managing Partner at BDO, added, “Businesses are facing unprecedented change and it’s more important than ever that they’re in a position of strength as they tackle the opportunities and threats that the next few years is likely to throw at them. Our Corporate Advisory Services team works with clients to improve business performance at every stage of a company’s lifecycle. Richard’s knowledge and experience in a variety of sectors and the world of private equity will be a huge benefit to our clients. He is a valuable addition to our expanding team.”