Mercer adds two senior associates to covenant advisory wing
Investment consultancy Mercer has expanded its covenant advisory team with two senior hires. Kriti Chandnani and Joe Hornsby both arrive as senior associates, while the firm looks to develop its practice.
A pension covenant – as defined by the Pensions Regulator – is the employer's legal obligation and financial ability to support their defined benefit scheme now and in the future. This makes a corporate covenant critical to most pension plans, and significant for regulators, members and pension plan sponsors, when it comes to scheme valuations and mergers and acquisitions, as well as business as usual.
Mercer’s covenant advisory team is headed by Partner Darren Masters, and works with trustees to help them gain a sound understanding of covenant operations, to support valuations, to provide a good basis for negotiations with the employer, and to satisfy regulator expectations. The firm is currently working to expand the team, taking it to a headcount of 15 and covering the whole of the UK.
Kriti Chandnani is one of the most recent additions to the team. A qualified accountant with a background in equity research and corporate finance, she joins from Argyll Covenant, bringing with her plenty of experience working with trustees and corporates, advising on the impact of restructuring, transactions, and performance monitoring.
Joe Hornsby also arrives with significant experience to his name. A qualified accountant with a background in audit, Hornsby’s previous role as Covenant Manager with TPT Retirement Solutions has given him knowledge across a wide range of sectors, including logistics, engineering, retail, food manufacturing, housing, financial services, and not-for-profit organisations. Earlier in his career, he also enjoyed a stint as Assistant Audit Manager at professional services firm Mazars.
Andrew Ward, Partner and Risk Transfer and DB Journey Planning Leader, commented, “Kriti and Joe are great additions to Mercer’s covenant offering bringing a wide range of experience at an exciting time for our business and the covenant sector. They will help the team deliver high quality covenant advice to both pension scheme trustees and corporate sponsors across the breadth of our client base and with new opportunities.”
The appointments are a further step in developing Mercer’s leading role in the covenant advisory market. The new hires are in addition to the arrivals of Adam D’Souza, Brandy Mukasa and Michael Fenton who have joined in the last 12 months.
