There is no greater professional satisfaction than helping a local business reach its potential. For me, it’s never just about maximising value at exit — it’s about helping business owners scale with confidence.
Northern Ireland is home to a wealth of entrepreneurial talent with strong credentials in sectors including technology, advanced manufacturing, professional services, and healthcare. We regularly see founders and management teams building globally relevant businesses — often with limited external capital and tough conditions.
And yet, historically, ambition has sometimes been tempered by modesty. For too long, success was seen as building a business and exiting with enough to buy the dream home and a holiday house. That’s a valid aspiration — but increasingly, we are working with clients who want more than that. They want to build lasting, scalable enterprises that create value over the long term. That’s the journey I get most excited about.
Since joining HNH at the end of 2018, I’ve advised on a wide range of transactions across a range of sectors including managed services and IT to facilities management, engineering and financial planning. As a firm, HNH are proudly sector-agnostic, but our track record has naturally concentrated in areas where we’ve delivered repeated success. That in turn creates a flywheel of new opportunity.
I didn’t plan to go into corporate finance. I studied law intending to pursue a legal career. But as training contracts became more competitive, I opted to strengthen my financial credentials, joining a conversion programme at Ulster University towards chartered accountancy. That decision ultimately led to me being offered a role at a Big Four firm, followed by time in their corporate restructuring practice post qualification. It was there, supporting businesses under pressure, that my conviction grew — I wanted to be on the front foot, advising companies through growth and change, not just recovery.
At that time, Brexit uncertainty still affected deal flow and then came the pandemic in 2020. Since this time we have seen interest rates rise and significant geopolitical volatility. Northern Ireland proved resilient, navigating challenge after challenge.
What’s changed most in recent years is not just the volume of transactions, but the scale, complexity and profile of them. We’ve seen a notable rise in private equity participation in Northern Ireland. Investors now recognise the region’s potential. According to Experian’s UK & Ireland M&A Review, Northern Ireland recorded 346 transactions in 2024, up 44% on the previous year — a striking figure against a more subdued national backdrop. Private equity was a driving force in that activity, introducing new structures and expectations, and a focus on scalable value.
Northern Ireland remains a place defined by hard work, pragmatism, and entrepreneurial grit. The majority of our companies are still owner-managed, often family-run, and that brings a strong sense of responsibility — to people, place, and legacy. But what’s encouraging is the increasing sophistication among business leaders. We’re seeing second and third generation owners upskilling to scale internationally, and founders embracing digital transformation and ESG to drive sustainable growth.
We’ve also seen local success stories that prove what’s possible. Take Kingsbridge, for example — a Northern Ireland-based healthcare provider that scaled significantly with backing from local private equity and ultimately exited in a landmark transaction for the region. That deal didn’t just generate a return; it shifted the narrative about what’s achievable here.
At HNH, we’re proud to have played a role in many of the region’s most transformative transactions. 2024 was a record year for us, with both our Belfast and Edinburgh offices ranked in the top ten most active advisors in the UK by Experian. And 2025 has continued in that vein, though deals take longer founders navigate factors such as national insurance reform and continued geopolitical uncertainty.
What matters most, though, is the ambition. That’s what inspires me. I want to work with clients who are thinking not only about a transaction, but about a broader strategic vision — a story of growth, resilience, and legacy. I want to help shape the next chapter for Northern Ireland’s private sector.
We have the talent, the innovation, and the resilience. Now it’s time to back ourselves — and deliver on the potential that’s always been here.