Award-winning North West dealmaker Jonathan Boyers has announced he鈥檚 resigned from KPMG after more than 34 years.
The multiple award-winning dealmaker has been a fixture of the corporate finance world but has been put on gardening leave before starting his next role, although he hasn鈥檛 revealed details of his new job.
The 55-year-old has forged a reputation as one of the region鈥檚 hardest working advisors and last year helped oversee a ground-breaking joint venture that KPMG signed with Venture Capital (VC) advisory firm Acceleris.
KPMG Acceleris was created to deliver a range of fundraising and advisory services to entrepreneurs in the UK and internationally, with a particular focus on businesses in technology, life sciences and ESG-related sectors.
Boyers took to LinkedIn on Friday to explain his reasons聽 for leaving and thank former colleagues and clients.
KPMG joins forces with Acceleris to fill early-stage funding gap
He wrote: 鈥淎t 6am聽on Christmas Day, 2022, I sat down at my laptop and drafted my resignation letter from KPMG. After 34 years with the same firm I had decided that it was time to start a new challenge. I eventually resigned last week.
鈥淕ardening leave happened sooner than I expected so I鈥檓 writing this to thank all the amazing KPMG colleagues and clients that I鈥檝e had the honour to work alongside and on behalf of.
鈥淟ast year I announced that I was stepping down from my role leading KPMG鈥檚 UK Corporate Finance practice. I handed over the helm on October 1 after five years leading that business. Together as a team we grew the turnover of the UK corporate finance three-fold over five years and grew profitability by an order of magnitude.
鈥淭he business growth has been grounded on values of integrity and collaborative behaviour and a strong origination culture. When I handed over it had the largest forward order book it鈥檚 ever had.鈥�
Reflecting on my career at KPMG he wrote: 鈥淚 was in my early 20s when I first led the corporate finance team in Preston and I鈥檝e been helping entrepreneurs, families and other stakeholders build and realise value for their businesses ever since.
鈥淚 was flattered that KPMG made me a vice chair of the firm in April but that role was likely to see me move away over time from the corporate finance market where I鈥檝e spent all my career.
鈥淎ll I鈥檝e really ever done is advise on corporate finance deals and lead corporate finance teams and I鈥檝e never lost the passion for deal-doing that I had on day one. So I鈥檝e decided I want to carry on being a corporate finance advisor.
鈥淭here will be plenty of time to share details of what I鈥檓 doing next but for now I鈥檇 just like to聽once聽again thank聽my KPMG colleagues (past and present) and clients for their support and friendship over the years.
鈥淲atch this space for details of my next role but until then I鈥檇 better find out how to use the lawnmower as my gardening leave has begun.鈥�
The announcement sparked a flurry of responses in the deals sector.
David Foreman, managing director of Praetura Ventures, wrote: 鈥淲ow. Shall watch this space with interest鈥�.鈥�