Staff Interview: Jonathan Rich – Managing Director

June 12, 2023

Meet Jonathan Rich, Managing Director here at Bluebox. We sat down with Jonathan to get to know him a bit better on both a professional and personal level. We learn a bit about his background prior to working at Bluebox, his insights into current M&A trends and much more!

 

Can you tell us a bit about your background prior to working at Bluebox?

After taking a year off after university to travel the world (in reality it was just Australia and New Zealand!) I trained as a chartered accountant at PwC, working on large audits of FTSE 100 companies.  Having realised pretty early on that verifying the existence of £1 petty cash wasn’t for me, I moved internally to their Corporate Finance team working on both public and private company transactions. The work was a mix of buy-side and sell-side transactions, however I mostly enjoyed working with entrepreneur-backed businesses.

 

Have you always wanted to work in Corporate Finance and if so, what drew you to the profession? If not, what other career paths were you interested in?

 Having undertaken a summer internship at Close Brothers Corporate Finance (now DC Advisory) during one of my summers at university, it’s fair to say it has been a career path I’ve always been interested in. I’m fairly decent with numbers and I am quite analytical, and so I was always destined to work in a finance related role.  Corporate Finance leverages these skills whilst also allowing me to provide forward-looking, strategic advice to entrepreneurial business owners.

 

What is your favourite thing about working at Bluebox?

 In addition to our great team who are a pleasure to work with, the varied nature of our clients keeps the role super interesting.  One minute I could be advising a leading NHS Trust on how to monetise their groundbreaking technology and the next minute I may be advising on the sale of a private business for an owner who has spent the last 30 years getting the business to where it is today.  Each project rewarding in very different ways.

 

What is one thing people don’t know about you that they would be surprised to find out?

I used to be far less risk adverse when I was younger.  I have jumped out of a plane at 14,000ft and jumped off a ledge on the highest bungee jump in New Zealand (134m).

 

What do you find are the main obstacles to watch out for that can threaten a deal, prior to closing?

 A lack of momentum and weak trading are the two key areas which can threaten a transaction.  Whilst we do everything in our power to move the process forward, sometimes the urgency can be missing from buyers and their advisers. On trading, it’s far better to overperform during the due diligence period than to miss the numbers, even slightly.  Make sure budgets and forecasts are appropriately conservative during the period of diligence!

 

What about a look at M&A activity more generally? Which sectors are receiving the most attention?

 The world of M&A has clearly changed significantly post COVID.  Sectors have gone in and out of fashion over the past few years, however businesses in the healthcare and business services sectors remain attractive to a broad range of international acquirers.

 

What is your ideal way to spend a Saturday?

Spending quality time with my kids before going to watch the mighty Arsenal lift the Premier League.  Hopefully the latter will become reality in the coming years!

 

What is the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?

Treat others the way you want to be treated.  I try to live by that mantra, mostly successfully.

My grandad’s advice to me was “be good… and if you can’t be good, be careful.” but I’m pretty sure he stole that from someone else.

 

Quick fire:

  1. Favourite place you’ve ever travelled to? Either Queenstown (New Zealand) or Havana (Cuba)
  2. Early bird or night owl? Night owl – I tend to binge watch Netflix
  3. Best meal you’ve ever eaten in a restaurant? Goat curry at Gymkhana
  4. If you could have dinner with anyone, past or present, who would it be? Arsène Wenger or Margot Robbie

 

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