A&M welcomes Matt Atkinson as managing director in restructuring team
Matt Atkinson has joined Alavarez & Marsal’s UK wing. Arriving as a managing director, he brings expertise from the higher education sector, and a quarter-century in restructuring.
Commenting on his appointment, Atkinson remarked, “With the support of the global A&M platform and investment in the education sector, I am well placed to help institutions meet the challenge, navigate change, innovate and find the bold solutions that are needed. I am looking forward to building out our team to help more education providers and funders across the country.”
The higher education sector is facing mounting financial, operational, and competitive pressures – as, since its shift to a marketised model, the recruitment of lucrative international students has collapsed. As it struggles to improve its financial health, the sector is regularly turning to recovery and turnaround professionals to find ways of cutting costs, restructuring, boosting performance or consolidating through M&A.
As A&M looks to service this demand, Atkinson brings more than 25 years of restructuring experience – including 12 years with PwC, and five at Begbies Traynor. He specialises in M&A, financial restructuring, asset realisation and alternative financing. At A&M, Atkinson will have a national role focusing on helping higher education institutions who are grappling with sufficiency of tuition fees, inflationary cost pressures, volatile overseas student demand, maintaining large estates, cyber threats and increasing scrutiny over the value of undergraduate degrees.
Prior to joining A&M, Atkinson was interim chief financial officer at the University of Nottingham – during which time the institution announced the possible ending of more than 300 roles, and the end of courses including music and nursing, having determined an earlier planned £40 million reduction in spending would not be enough to stabilise its finances. Prior to that, he held the same role at Middlesex University. Earlier in his career, Atkinson also worked for the UK Department for Education from 2017 to 2022, where he established and led the transactions unit, which was responsible for funding over 40 mergers within the further education sector.
Chris Johnston, co-head of financial and operational restructuring for the EMEA region at A&M, said, “Matt brings a unique combination of deep sector insight and restructuring expertise. The higher education sector is under significant strain, with a rapidly worsening financial outlook and an urgent need to take action on a number of fronts. Matt’s experience, both within educational institutions and government, will be invaluable in helping clients address immediate pressures and plan for long-term stability.”
