John has over 30 years of experience advising companies on all aspects of their capital market communications. He is co-founder of Smithfield, which is now Edelman’s wholly owned financial media and investor relations practice in the UK.
John has worked extensively on cross border and domestic M&A and restructuring projects including Vantiv’s $28.8bn merger with Worldpay, CME’s £3.9bn acquisition of Nex Group, Ferrero’s £112m acquisition of Thorntons and Walt Disney Company’s acquisition of Euro Disney. He also served as adviser to CNH on its €13bn merger with Fiat Industrial, Scottish & Newcastle on its £7.8bn acquisition by a Carlsberg & Heineken-led consortium, and AkzoNobel on its £8bn acquisition of ICI. John also advised Brookfield Asset Management on its £2.7bn successful hostile takeover of Songbird / Canary Wharf Group, and Mubadala on the stake of a stake in CEPSA. He also served as adviser to Red Football on its high-profile £790m acquisition of Manchester United FC in 2005, and Arsenal FC on its £731m acquisition by Stanley Kroenke’s KSE in 2011.
Additionally, John has also worked on a number of IPOs and spinoffs including, C&W Worldwide from C&W Group (London), TNT Express from Post NL (Amsterdam), and Emaar Malls (Dubai).
He has advised on activism and shareholder disputes including TNT Express, Kirin, Nissan, AkzoNobel and Punch Taverns . He has also advised on special situations in the pensions sector for schemes including AA, Boots, BAA, Co-op G4S, M&S, and Kodak.
John is a graduate of University College London and a guest lecturer on Investor Relations and crisis communications at the London Business School.