Our team has decades of sector knowledge, a powerful track record and impressive international experience to execute complex transactions.
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Our suite of business advisory services
Sector expertise
Each conversation starts with a blank piece of paper and a desire to learn about your objectives. Our team has decades of sector knowledge, a powerful track record and impressive international experience to execute complex transactions.
The quality of our advice stems from an open and honest dialogue with our clients and a deep understanding of their businesses.
Our dedicated team has helped float 18 companies, advised on 35 public takeovers, and provides corporate broking to over 130 clients.
We never start with a pre-determined solution. Each conversation starts with a blank piece of paper and a desire to learn about your objectives.
We bring deep local expertise, strategic advice and fresh perspectives to transactions in the UK, Europe and North America, as well as important emerging markets in Asia and Africa. Our team has decades of sector knowledge, a powerful track record and impressive international experience to execute complex transactions.
When it comes to current valuations, the markets appear to be overly discounting near-term risks and are failing to reflect the long-term fundamentals of the sector. We believe there are four reasons that the long-term fundamentals of the UK wealth sector are positive.
The global Video Gaming market has boomed in recent years, with games like Fortnite capturing millions of daily players. As our latest report shows, deal flow has remained strong through the pandemic, and has not shown any signs of slowing down.
The importance of DevOps is clear when you consider the high growth forecasts for the market – which is expected to grow at a 20% CAGR from 2020-2026 with an estimated total market size of $18 billion by 2026.
The leadership team
Jonathan Arrowsmith
Managing Director - UK
Joining Investec in 2018, Jonathan has over 17 years of Corporate Finance experience, which included selling active assistance in 2018 to montreux capital management. Jonathan is also the Co-Head of Investec’s Private Equity Client Group. Jonathan was previously managing director at DC Advisory and manager at PwC, where he qualified as a Chartered Accountant. Jonathan graduated from Bristol University with a First-Class Honours degree in Maths & French.
Charles Barlow
Managing Director - UK
Charles joined Investec in 2017 to lead the bank’s cross border corporate finance business. With over 26 years of investment banking experience, he has advised clients on international transactions around the world, including in Europe, Asia, the Americas and Africa. Charles previously worked for Renaissance Capital, Greenhill and Deutsche Bank. He qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Arthur Andersen and graduated from the University of Cape Town with a Bachelor of Commerce (Honours) Degree.
Michel Degryck
Managing Partner – France
Michel is a Managing Partner and a member of the leadership Team at Investec’s European Business Advisory Group and heads the French Investec Business Advisory team in Paris.
Michel started his career by founding Capital Partner (an M&A advisory boutique) in Paris in 1999. He then merged it in 2004 with Dutch firm Bluemind Corporate Finance to create Capitalmind, which expanded until 2023 across Europe (in Germany, the Nordics and Swizterland), before joining forces with Investec to create a global Mid-Market M&A advisory player.
Michel has worked in M&A for over 25 years, as the lead dealmaker on more than 100 transactions, including divestitures, buy-outs, financings and acquisitions. Michel assists all types of clients, from large corporates to entrepreneurs, families and private equity houses.
He has a deep understanding of company strategies and international deal-making – notably in Business Services, Industrials, and Food & Agro.
Michel also acted as board member and then chairman of the supervisory board of Davey Bickford, a €80m revenue high-tech family group, which ran a buy-out with Argos Soditic in 2007 and was sold in 2015 to the Chilean group ENAEX.
Michel holds an MBA from ESSEC Business School.
He is fluent in French and English.
Jan Willem Jonkman
Managing Partner – Benelux
Jan Willem is a Managing Partner and a member of the leadership Team at Investec’s European Business Advisory, which he co-founded in 1999. He has 25+ years of experience in M&A and has successfully closed 100+ deals (mainly cross-border), focusing on Consumer/Food, Business Services and TMT. Jan Willem speaks Dutch, English, German and French.
Before Jan Willem founded Investec’s European Business Advisory, he was a corporate banker and regional director of commercial banking for ABN AMRO Amsterdam, managing several branch offices.
Jan Willem is also a guest lecturer at Tilburg University; Chairman of one of the oldest football & cricket clubs in the Netherlands, HC & FC Victoria 1893; and from 2009 until 2015, Chairman of the Dutch Corporate Finance Association.
He has a degree in Marketing & Business Administration from Wageningen University, and later earned his second license in Financial Economics and International Business in Antwerp, Belgium.
Ervin Schellenberg
Managing Partner – Germany
Ervin Schellenberg is Managing Partner, and a member of the leadership Team at Investec’s European Business Advisory Group.
For more than 30 years Ervin has acted as a trusted advisor to the boards and owners of mid-cap and large-cap companies, on 100+ complex mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, financings and buyout transactions – worth a total volume of several billion euros.
Ervin also serves on the advisory board of Hochrein GmbH, a private German technology holding; and is a member of the board of trustees of “Junge Deutsche Philharmonie” .
Ervin is fluent in German, English and Slovene.
He is a Co-founder of Capitalmind, which he co-build over 20 years with his Partners and successfully merged into Investec PLC. Before that, he held several senior positions at leading private equity and investment banking firms such as Duke Street Capital, London, a €3 bn alternative asset manager focused on middle market equity and debt investments, where he served as Managing Partner of their GSA business and Citigroup’s Salomon Smith Barney, where he was part of the senior team in their European Industrials investment banking group in London.
Ervin holds a master’s degree in business administration from Johann Wolfgang Goethe University, Frankfurt. He is married and has two children.
Marleen Vermeer
Partner – Benelux
Marleen is a Partner of Investec and joined the company in 2009. In the period 2019-2021, Marleen has temporarily worked from the San Francisco / Silicon Valley region in the US.
Over the past 10+ years, Marleen has successfully closed more than 50 (crossborder) deals, naturally in several sectors, including business services, TMT, and industrials. Her main responsibilities include advising on sell-side transactions, funding, MBOs, and company acquisitions.
Marleen was chosen as number 1 female dealmaker within M&A community based on number of deals.
Besides Dutch, Marleen is fluent in English.
Between 2005 and 2009 Marleen worked at another corporate finance firm as well as a family office active in a broad range of financial services, where she was responsible for M&A.
From 2010 to 2017, Marleen was an active member of Junior Chamber International in Tilburg, where she also served as a board member for part of that period.
Marleen studied Business Economics at Tilburg University and graduated on the topic ‘Business Valuation’.
Jonathan Arrowsmith
Managing Director - UK
Joining Investec in 2018, Jonathan has over 17 years of Corporate Finance experience, which included selling active assistance in 2018 to montreux capital management. Jonathan is also the Co-Head of Investec’s Private Equity Client Group. Jonathan was previously managing director at DC Advisory and manager at PwC, where he qualified as a Chartered Accountant. Jonathan graduated from Bristol University with a First-Class Honours degree in Maths & French.
Charles Barlow
Managing Director - UK
Charles joined Investec in 2017 to lead the bank’s cross border corporate finance business. With over 26 years of investment banking experience, he has advised clients on international transactions around the world, including in Europe, Asia, the Americas and Africa. Charles previously worked for Renaissance Capital, Greenhill and Deutsche Bank. He qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Arthur Andersen and graduated from the University of Cape Town with a Bachelor of Commerce (Honours) Degree.
Michel Degryck
Managing Partner – France
Michel is a Managing Partner and a member of the leadership Team at Investec’s European Business Advisory Group and heads the French Investec Business Advisory team in Paris.
Michel started his career by founding Capital Partner (an M&A advisory boutique) in Paris in 1999. He then merged it in 2004 with Dutch firm Bluemind Corporate Finance to create Capitalmind, which expanded until 2023 across Europe (in Germany, the Nordics and Swizterland), before joining forces with Investec to create a global Mid-Market M&A advisory player.
Michel has worked in M&A for over 25 years, as the lead dealmaker on more than 100 transactions, including divestitures, buy-outs, financings and acquisitions. Michel assists all types of clients, from large corporates to entrepreneurs, families and private equity houses.
He has a deep understanding of company strategies and international deal-making – notably in Business Services, Industrials, and Food & Agro.
Michel also acted as board member and then chairman of the supervisory board of Davey Bickford, a €80m revenue high-tech family group, which ran a buy-out with Argos Soditic in 2007 and was sold in 2015 to the Chilean group ENAEX.
Michel holds an MBA from ESSEC Business School.
He is fluent in French and English.
Jan Willem Jonkman
Managing Partner – Benelux
Jan Willem is a Managing Partner and a member of the leadership Team at Investec’s European Business Advisory, which he co-founded in 1999. He has 25+ years of experience in M&A and has successfully closed 100+ deals (mainly cross-border), focusing on Consumer/Food, Business Services and TMT. Jan Willem speaks Dutch, English, German and French.
Before Jan Willem founded Investec’s European Business Advisory, he was a corporate banker and regional director of commercial banking for ABN AMRO Amsterdam, managing several branch offices.
Jan Willem is also a guest lecturer at Tilburg University; Chairman of one of the oldest football & cricket clubs in the Netherlands, HC & FC Victoria 1893; and from 2009 until 2015, Chairman of the Dutch Corporate Finance Association.
He has a degree in Marketing & Business Administration from Wageningen University, and later earned his second license in Financial Economics and International Business in Antwerp, Belgium.
Ervin Schellenberg
Managing Partner – Germany
Ervin Schellenberg is Managing Partner, and a member of the leadership Team at Investec’s European Business Advisory Group.
For more than 30 years Ervin has acted as a trusted advisor to the boards and owners of mid-cap and large-cap companies, on 100+ complex mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, financings and buyout transactions – worth a total volume of several billion euros.
Ervin also serves on the advisory board of Hochrein GmbH, a private German technology holding; and is a member of the board of trustees of “Junge Deutsche Philharmonie” .
Ervin is fluent in German, English and Slovene.
He is a Co-founder of Capitalmind, which he co-build over 20 years with his Partners and successfully merged into Investec PLC. Before that, he held several senior positions at leading private equity and investment banking firms such as Duke Street Capital, London, a €3 bn alternative asset manager focused on middle market equity and debt investments, where he served as Managing Partner of their GSA business and Citigroup’s Salomon Smith Barney, where he was part of the senior team in their European Industrials investment banking group in London.
Ervin holds a master’s degree in business administration from Johann Wolfgang Goethe University, Frankfurt. He is married and has two children.
Marleen Vermeer
Partner – Benelux
Marleen is a Partner of Investec and joined the company in 2009. In the period 2019-2021, Marleen has temporarily worked from the San Francisco / Silicon Valley region in the US.
Over the past 10+ years, Marleen has successfully closed more than 50 (crossborder) deals, naturally in several sectors, including business services, TMT, and industrials. Her main responsibilities include advising on sell-side transactions, funding, MBOs, and company acquisitions.
Marleen was chosen as number 1 female dealmaker within M&A community based on number of deals.
Besides Dutch, Marleen is fluent in English.
Between 2005 and 2009 Marleen worked at another corporate finance firm as well as a family office active in a broad range of financial services, where she was responsible for M&A.
From 2010 to 2017, Marleen was an active member of Junior Chamber International in Tilburg, where she also served as a board member for part of that period.
Marleen studied Business Economics at Tilburg University and graduated on the topic ‘Business Valuation’.