Interpath bolsters Irish practice with hire of six senior practitioners
Interpath has made a number of senior hires in Ireland, as the firm puts its ambitious growth plans for the Irish market into works.
Established in May 2021 following a private equity-backed carve-out from KPMG (valued at £350 million), Interpath is an advisory firm with currently 600 staff across the UK and Ireland. The firm helps clients across sectors with restructuring and insolvency work, and increasingly with other financial advisory services.
Late 2022, Interpath expanded into Ireland and Northern Ireland, where the firm has set its sights on building up a practice of over 100 staff within the next three to four years. With the latest additions of three managing directors and three directors in Dublin, the firm has taken a major step in realising this ambition.
The arrival of Eamonn Richardson and Kieran Wallace sees Interpath welcome two of Ireland’s preeminent restructuring practitioners to its team. The duo, best known for their high-profile role as joint special liquidators of Irish Bank Resolution Corporation (IBRC), bring close to 50 years of experience in restructuring and insolvency to the firm.
“The arrival of Kieran and Eamonn signifies a real statement of our intent to become the leading restructuring and advisory business across Ireland,” said Blair Nimmo, chief executive of Interpath.
According to Consultancy.org’s database, Interpath ranks as one of the leading restructuring consulting firms in the UK.
Liam Booth has been hired to lead and build Interpath’s new Corporate Finance practice in Ireland. Booth brings a longstanding career of over 30 years in the Irish corporate finance market. Most recently, he was Head of Corporate Finance and an Executive director at Investec, prior to which he was Head of Corporate Finance at NCB Group which was acquired by Investec in 2012.
Over the course of his career, Booth has personally advised on M&A and fundraising transactions with a cumulative value of over €20 billion.
Wallace, Richardson, and Booth have all been appointed a managing director. Meanwhile, Siobhan Connolly, Owen Travers and Kathryn Ward have been brought on board as directors.
Siobhan Connolly who will lead Interpath’s new Aviation Advisory team in Dublin. She is an aviation expert with 28 years of experience in the aircraft leasing sector. She was formerly Managing Director and head of Restructuring at GECAS, and has also worked for GPA. Her expertise includes commercial negotiations, restructurings and risk management.
Owen Travers will lead Interpath’s Institutional and Lender advisory business in Ireland. He was previously CFO at D/RES Properties, an Irish developer and housebuilder. Prior to that, Travers spent over two decades with Allied Irish Banks where he was the Chief Executive of AIB Corporate Finance and held previous roles with AIB Capital Markets as Head of Hospitality & Retail, Renewables, Social Housing and Transport.
Kathryn Ward joins the Interpath team as Head of Legal for the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation engagement. A practising solicitor, Ward was previously at KPMG, before that she worked in private practice.
“The arrival of these talented people represents a significant milestone in the growth of our business, as we continue to invest in and build out our restructuring and advisory capabilities,” said Nimmo.
Earlier this year, Nimmo confirmed to the Irish Times that Interpath had commenced talks to acquire Deloitte’s insolvency unit in Ireland. The talks led to nothing, however, in the meantime Interpath has organically been poaching several senior Deloitte professionals, including partners Ken Fennell and Mark Degnan.