Richard Madden

Chief Executive
United Kingdom

Telephone: +44 (0) 20 7856 0901
richard.madden@dcadvisorypartners.com

Richard was appointed Chief Executive of DC Advisory Partners (formerly Close Brothers Corporate Finance) in the UK in November 2009.

Richard continues to be responsible for the DC Advisory Partners media and technology practices across Europe. He has more than twenty years experience advising companies in both sectors. His experience covers debt and equity fundraising and M&A across Europe and in the United States.

Richard’s clients have ranged from major corporations such as News Corporation, Daily Mail and General Trust and Dun and Bradstreet to smaller entrepreneurial companies such as Clarion, Boosey & Hawkes, Superscape and Kobalt.

Prior to DC Advisory Partners, Richard was a Senior Managing Director at Bear Stearns and a Managing Director at ING Barings. He joined ING Barings from Arthur Andersen.

Richard is a Chartered Accountant and a Classics graduate from Jesus College, Cambridge.

Ernst von Freyberg

Chief Executive
Germany

Telephone: +49 (0)69 97 20 04 0
Ernst.Freyberg@dcadvisorypartners.com

Ernst von Freyberg worked for Three Cities Research, Inc., an investment company forming part of the Bemberg Group, in New York and London from 1988 to 1991, before co-founding DC Advisory Partners. He is a member of various supervisory boards including Deutsche Malteser gGmbH, Flossbach von Storch AG,
Manpower GmbH and Magirus AG. Mr von Freyberg has qualified as a lawyer.

Raúl J. Julián

Chief Executive
Spain

Telephone: +34 91 524 11 24
raulj.julian@dcadvisorypartners.com

Raúl J. Julián is one of the founding partners of Atlas Capital Investment Bankers, the predecessor in Spain of DC Advisory Partners and since 2009 he is Managing Director for Spain and member of the Board of Directors. He is also responsible of the Financial Services sector in Spain.

He has developed his career in Corporate Finance in Spain and the U.K., firstly at PricewaterhouseCoopers and then at Atlas Capital Close Brothers, having advised on numerous M&A and Debt Advisory (restructuring and project finance) transactions. Raúl has advised insurance groups (Mapfre), banks and savings banks (Banco Pastor, Caja Madrid, Caixa Galicia or Cajasol), private equity groups (3i, Vista Capital or Permira) as well as Public Organisms (he advised the Regional Government of Madrid in the first shadow toll roads program in Spain).

PhD in Business Administration from Universidad Complutense de Madrid and Business Administration graduate form Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, he is also Qualified Accountant in Spain (member of the Registro Oficial de Auditores de Cuentas) and teaches finance programs at Instituto de Empresa business school.

Gwénaël de Sagazan

Chief Executive
France

Telephone: +33 (0) 1 42 12 49 67
gwenael.desagazan@dcadvisorypartners.com

Prior to joining DC Advisory Partners (formerly Close Brothers SAS) Gwénaël de Sagazan worked for 14 years in the Corporate Banking division of HSBC France, first as a Director then as a Managing Director. In that role, he advised numerous transactions for financial sponsors, and in the sectors of transports and specialised retail.

Gwénaël de Sagazan started his career with Groupe Total, and subsequently with Morgan Grenfell. Gwénaël has worked on Private Equity as a Director of Investment in the financial subsidiaries of the Elf Aquitaine’s Group (1992 – 1993).

Gwénaël de Sagazan is a graduate of HEC.

Jonathan Trower

Managing Director
United Kingdom

Telephone: +44 (0) 20 7856 0912
jonathan.trower@dcadvisorypartners.com

Jonathan joined DC Advisory Partners (formerly Close Brothers Corporate Finance) in 1998 to set up the European Restructuring and Debt Advisory Group.

He was previously a Director of Hill Samuel and subsequently of Hambros.

Jonathan has had extensive experience of the debt markets over his banking career, having worked in corporate banking, loan syndication, acquisition finance and property finance. He ran a large team of workout bankers in the 1990-92 recession.

Since joining DC Advisory Partners Jonathan has advised on a large number of both restructuring and debt advisory transactions.

Clients that he has advised include Enterprise Inns plc, LogicaCMG, Virgin Money, Luxfer, Gala and TM Group Holdings. Private equity houses that he has worked for include Legal & General Ventures, Electra Partners Europe Ltd, Montagu Private Equity, Sun European Partners, Cinven and Candover.

After graduating from Cambridge University and three years as an army officer, Jonathan began his banking career in 1983.

Andrew Cunningham

Managing Director
United Kingdom

Telephone: +44 (0) 20 7856 0903
andrew.cunningham@dcadvisorypartners.com

Andrew joined DC Advisory Partners (formerly Close Brothers Corporate Finance) in 1996 following the acquisition of Hill Samuel's corporate finance division and was appointed a Managing Director in 2000.

Andrew has a wide experience of public and private transactions including IPO's, takeovers, acquisitions, disposals, capital raisings and restructurings. He has particular experience in the Industrial Products & Services sector and heads the team in London.

Recent advisory roles include advising Warburg Pincus on its acquisition of Survitec Group, advising Hunting plc on its sale of Gibson Energy and the restructuring of Sanitec.

Jeff Blue

Managing Director
United Kingdom

Telephone: +44 (0) 20 7856 9437
jeff.blue@dcadvisorypartners.com

Jeff joined DC Advisory Partners (formerly Close Brothers Corporate Finance) in May 2011 as a Managing Director in the Retail & Consumer team.

Over the last 12 years Jeff has advised on a wide range of public and private transactions including IPO's, takeovers, acquisitions, disposals, capital raisings and restructurings. He has particular experience in the retail sector having previously worked in private equity, managing an extensive portfolio of retail assets.

Companies Jeff has advised in the retail sector include: Arcadia, All Saints, Aurum (Goldsmiths, Mappin & Webb, Watches of Switzerland), Debenhams, Halfords, Hamleys, House of Fraser, Moss Bros., New look, Office, Sports Direct, Whistles and Wyevale Garden Centres.

Jeff previously worked at Merrill Lynch in London, where he focused on the retail and consumer sector.  Prior to joining Merrill Lynch, he worked in M&A at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette.

Jeff practised corporate & competition law before becoming an investment banker. He has a Masters in Finance from the London Business School as well as undergraduate degrees in law, accounting & finance.

Philipp Gutzwiller

Managing Director
United Kingdom

Telephone: +44 (0) 20 7856 0913
philipp.gutzwiller@dcadvisorypartners.com

Philipp joined DC Advisory Partners in July 2011 as Managing Director on the healthcare team. Previously he held roles at CFS Advisors LLC, a financial services firm he founded, and UBS, where he was a Managing Director on the Global Healthcare Team. Philipp has worked with large and mid-cap clients in Europe and Japan on a wide range of transactions.

During a career which has been healthcare focused throughout, Philipp has advised some of the leading names in the pharmaceuticals industry, including AstraZeneca, Bayer, Merck, Roche and Actavis in Europe as well as Astellas, Chugai, Daiichi Sankyo and Takeda in Japan.

Philipp started his career in a corporate finance role at F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd, one of the world’s largest pharmaceuticals companies. He is fluent in English, German and French.