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Last Friday Blog – How Corporate Finance is like the World Cup

As a big sports fan, it’s been great to see the country thriving on the global stage in recent months.

We’ve been through a period of sporting triumphs from Liverpool securing the Champions League title in May through to the Lionesses and Roses reaching the semi-final stage of their respective Women’s World Cups, massively increasing the profile of both sports in the process. Most recently though, the dramatic fashion in which England beat New Zealand in the final of the Cricket World Cup has been hailed as sport at its finest and a truly iconic moment.

Inevitably, there have been many stand-out performances from individuals. But what’s really shone through in all these cases has been the success that ultimately comes from team spirit and togetherness. These achievements would not have been possible without all individuals really coming together and working as a genuine team.

The same principles apply in business. At BHP, People and Teamwork form two of our five ‘Core Values’, which underpin everything we do. This belief and focus is reflected in BHP recently being named as one of the Sunday Times Top 100 Best Companies to Work For. It was also behind the thinking that shaped our ‘how do you tie your laces’ campaign for 2019. This celebrates our team as unique individuals and how we’re each able to support our clients in our own way. We may tie our shoelaces differently, but we’re committed to working together as a team to support, develop and inspire our clients to realise their true potential.

I’ve been at BHP for nearly 8 years, the last three of which have been a part of the award-winning Corporate Finance team. The very nature of the work we do means that the workload can often be intense, particularly when working to tight deadlines as deals reach completion. But we also know how to enjoy ourselves, and the support we give each other (not to mention the banter!), which makes it feel like a sporting dressing room, is absolutely key to this.

Being one of the largest teams in the North of England, we have substantial experience in originating and completing a wide range of transactions including buy-side and sell-side M&A, MBOs, private equity and complex fundraisings.

Whatever the transaction, we’re able to deliver exceptional results by also working closely with our in-house corporate tax, forensic and financial planning teams where appropriate, and with our international colleagues in the case of cross border M&A projects (which are becoming increasingly prevalent). There’ll often be a wide range of commercial, financial and legal complexities which can only be overcome with a team of advisors working together to achieve the best outcome.

We know brilliant performance comes from having a brilliant team. This has been exemplified in the sporting world over recent months and at BHP Corporate Finance we very much understand that the whole is so much greater than the sum of its parts.