Fenchurch Advisory Partners Strengthens US Presence with Appointment of Senior Investment Banker as Co-Head of Fenchurch US

Fenchurch Advisory Partners, a leading specialist in corporate finance advisory services for financial institutions, has announced the expansion of its US operations with the appointment of Mr. Gautam Chawla as Senior Managing Director and Co-Head of Fenchurch US.

Bringing over thirty-three years of investment banking expertise, Mr. Chawla previously served as Vice Chairman and Global Co-Head of the Financial Institutions Group at Barclays. Prior to his tenure there, he spent twenty-eight years at Citigroup, where he launched his career and advanced to senior leadership positions, including Co-Head of Global Insurance and Co-Head of North American FIG.

In his new role, Gautam will collaborate with John Sipp, Senior Managing Director and Co-Head of Fenchurch’s US office, to support clients across the United States and provide strategic guidance on cross-border and domestic transactions. As the only scale investment banking firm dedicated solely to the financial services sector, Fenchurch continues to advise prominent corporate and financial sponsor clients on M&A, capital raising, and shareholder activism.

Gautam joins a growing team of over 70 investment banking professionals at Fenchurch based in New York, London and Paris. Fenchurch opened an office in the US in 2022 and obtained its broker licence in January 2024.

In the last 12 months, since August 2024, Fenchurch has advised on over 20 transactions in insurance, banking, and asset & wealth management, including:

1. Groupe BPCE on its acquisition of novobanco (Value: €6.4 billion)
2. Hargreaves Lansdown plc on a cash offer from a consortium (CVC, Nordic Capital & ADIA) (Value: £5.4 billion)
3. Groupe BPCE on the combination of Natixis IM with Generali Investments (Value: c. €9.5 billion)
4. Cinven on sale of Viridium Gruppe to a consortium (Value: c. €3.5 billion)
5. Ardonagh on its minority investment from Stone Point Capital (Value: $14 billion)
6. Nationwide on the sale of Virgin Money’s D2C investment platform to Octopus Money.
7. Monument Re on the transfer of Greycastle portfolio to RGA (Value: €1.4 billion)
8. Wendel on its acquisition of a 75% stake in Monroe Capital (Value: Up to $1.4 billion)
9. Bain Capital & esure on the sale of esure to Ageas (Value: c. £1.3 billion)
10. Cinven on co-control stake acquisition in Policy Expert from ADIA
11. Chesnara on its acquisition of HSBC Life (UK) (Value: £260 million)
12. Apera Asset Management on the sale of a majority stake to Franklin Templeton
13. Argo Infrastructure Partners the on sale to Apollo Global Management
14. Jupiter on its acquisition of CCLA Investment Management (Value: £100 million)
15. Natixis IM on sale of MV Credit to Clearlake Capital
16. 180 Degree Capital on its merger with Mount Logan Capital (Value: c. $184 million)
17. Kayne Anderson BDC on its investment in SG Credit Partners (Value: c. $126 million)
18. Canopius & Fidentia Fortuna Holdings on the sale of ~21% stake to Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance
19. Legal & General on its acquisition of a 75% stake in Proprium Capital Partners
20. Hiscox on its acquisition of Corix (insurtech, US)
21. AJ Bell on sale of £3.2 bn AUM SIPP & SSAS business to InvestAcc
22. Oaktree / Atomos on its minority stake sale in Atomos to WTW
23. Mattioli Woods on its acquisition of Kingswood Group
24. LSQ on its sale to eCapital