Pannells loses finance head to BDO Stoy Hayward
BDO Stoy Hayward has staged an audacious coup against rival Pannell Kerr Forster by poaching its head of corporate finance.
Stephen Bourne, 39, is still negotiating exit terms with Pannells, and has yet to agree a leaving date. He refused to say why he was quitting after 18 years.
Adrian Martin, Stoys’ national managing partner, is also remaining tight-lipped about his new recruit.
Bourne is likely to join Stoys’ London-based five-partner department led by Dermot Mathias.
Pannells has been quick to find a replacement, appointing Stephen Bruck as the new national director of corporate finance. But the unexpected defection of Bourne, who joined Pannells as a trainee in 1978, is an embarrassing blow to the firm which is trying to stop competitors picking off key personnel from other divisions.
In the past year, the firm’s hotels and leisure consultancy has lost nearly half of its 25-strong team, after the collapse of a u3m management buyout bid in February.
Arthur Andersen has already snapped up seven staff including the consultancy’s former MD, Frank Croston.
Pannells brought in Stuart May, former managing director of Forte Heritage Hotels, to the new post of chief executive last month in an attempt to stem the departures.
May’s appointment has been bolstered with the addition of a new director, Melvin Gold, and three consultants to the hotels division.
John Wosner, Pannells’ national managing partner, was abroad this week and unavailable for comment.
