Accountancy firm expands with Aberdeen office and appoints Corporate Finance team

WBG, one of Scotland’s leading independent specialist accounting advisory, audit and tax firms, has opened an office in Aberdeen and appointed a new Corporate Finance team.

Tom Faichnie joins as Partner – Head of Diligence & Transactions and Melanie Clark joins as Corporate Finance Partner with both based at the firm’s new Aberdeen office.

Specialising in providing financial due diligence and deal advice to UK mid-market private equity and corporate clients undertaking M&A activity, Tom is a seasoned corporate financier, well-respected in the market, having built a reputation for connecting private equity houses with investments in Scotland over the past 25 years.

After qualifying with KPMG in Glasgow, Tom moved to Deloitte, initially working on CF engagements in Aberdeen and latterly as director building the transaction services team in Deloitte Manchester.

He returned to Scotland in 2007, setting up the Aberdeen leveraged finance team in Barclays Bank, providing debt funding to corporates and private equity backed businesses.

Specialising in providing financial due diligence and sell side deal advice to UK mid-market clients, Melaine trained with KPMG in Glasgow before moving to Simmons and Company (now Piper Sandler) and RSM where she gained a wide range of deal experience across a diverse range of sectors advising business owners, management teams and private equity investors.

This year, Melaine was named Accounting Partner of the Year at the Scottish Professional Awards.

Of their appointments, Allan Dowie, CEO at Wbg said: “Together Melanie and Tom have completed over 30 transactions in the last four years, including financial due diligence and exit mandates.

“They are joining at an exciting time for Wbg and this will further enhance our serving offering within our corporate finance function that serves across Scotland and the UK. Also, this will allow us to service our existing and new clients from Aberdeen and the northeast from the new location.”

The new office sees the business now operate across six main locations – Aberdeen, Ayrshire, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Lanarkshire and Manchester – with a further office planned to open over the coming months.