Tilney Smith & Williamson announces two senior appointments in Transaction Services team

Tilney Smith & Williamson, the leading wealth management and professional services group, has announced the appointment of Mark Benka as Head of Transaction Services and Neil Cook as a Transaction Services partner, leading IPO and capital market related work.

Mark takes on his new role in Tilney Smith & Williamson’s professional services business having joined the group in May 2018 from PwC. The Transaction Services team advises private equity firms, corporate clients, banks and family offices providing financial due diligence and sale and purchase agreement (SPA) advice on transactions and also reporting accountant and assist services in connection with IPOs and other capital markets transactions. Mark has significant experience across a range of sectors particularly in industrial products, business services, waste management, technology, financial services, healthcare and property.

He takes over as Head of Transaction Services from Philip Quigley who remains with Tilney Smith & Williamson but will step back from his management role to focus on working with his portfolio of clients.

Neil Cook joins Tilney Smith & Williamson from Deloitte where he focussed on assisting clients to complete a wide variety of capital markets transactions, including IPOs, fund raisings and Class 1 acquisitions. Prior to Deloitte Neil held senior roles at PwC, Equiniti and Travelex. He has extensive experience working with companies and management teams across a wide variety of sectors and geographies and has executed capital market transactions as both an advisor and as an integral member of a management team.

Mark commented: “I am delighted to take on the leadership of the Transaction Services team and build on the good work that Philip has done in recent years. It is an exciting time for the business as we are seeing an incredible amount of activity and have seen our share of the market increase in the lower to mid-market space. New clients often come to us having previously worked with the Big Four and are attracted by our reputation for delivering high quality, hands-on and insightful advice. Right now for example, cost inflation pass-through and supply chain issues are critical areas that we are helping buyers fully understand.

“As we continue to grow, it is important we appoint good people to work with our clients and I am therefore very pleased Neil Cook is joining Tilney Smith & Williamson. He brings a great deal of Capital Markets experience and I know he will be a big asset for our business. We have ambitions to double the size of our Transaction Services team in the next two years and so remain on the lookout to bring further great talent to our team.”

Neil added: “I am delighted to be joining Tilney Smith & Williamson, particularly given the ambition to double the size of the Transaction Services team in the next two years. The independence constraints placed on the reporting accountants provides a real opportunity to grow our market share, especially with regards to our assist proposition. A key factor in me deciding to join Tilney Smith & Williamson is its focus on people and relationships delivering a friendly, inclusive and bespoke service to its clients. I am excited to be working with Mark in the next chapter of my career, providing excellent service to our clients, developing and expanding the team, our offerings and market share.”