CMi2i is pleased to announce the joining of Arif Syed as Senior Advisor M&A and Contentious Situations, and Harry St. John Cooper as Senior Advisor Shareholder Activism. They join as CMi2i expands its advisory offering into a formal division of the business - CMi2i Advisory.

CMi2i Advisory offers strategic capital markets intelligence and guidance focused on shareholder activism, M&A, equity transactions, debt transactions, restructuring and special situations.

As CEO, Mark Simms, explains, “The market intelligence we provide is most powerful when coupled with context and advice on how to use it. We have found that advisors to issuers, and the issuers themselves, need more than just a quality intelligence report - they need it put into perspective, and insight on how to incorporate it into their overall strategy for managing investor risk. Expanding our advisory solutions to systematically include this critical element ensures we are giving our clients their best chance of success.”

Arif Syed has nearly two decades of experience as an investment banker at Rothschild & Co and as a proprietary stock investor. He has advised the boards of large corporates across the world on a range of transactions, including US one step mergers, tender offers, schemes of arrangement, mergers, hostile takeovers & defences, spin offs, equity capital raises and restructurings.

Harry St. John Cooper has over thirty years of experience in global capital markets. He was a partner in the European office of the leading New York based hedge fund, Paulson & Co. Inc. specialising in merger arbitrage, event driven and activist investing. He has extensive experience in shareholder engagement and investment analysis, particularly in activist situations and M&A transactions, and most recently has been a consultant at EY on shareholder activism.

“In many ways, the launch of CMi2i Advisory today is the formalisation of something we have been doing for clients for a long time. The increased demand seen recently however, has meant we need additional advisors such as Harry and Arif - advisors whose expertise will strengthen our ability to deliver outcome-changing intelligence solutions in a wider range of markets,” commented Nic Bennett, Senior Advisor Strategic Communications.

CMi2i is known for its uniquely accurate forensic shareholder and bondholder identification and analysis, intelligence which serves as a critical first step in a wide range of corporate activities, from planning an IR calendar to completing a successful M&A transaction. This core offering will remain the foundation of CMi2i’s other services and solutions, as the firm continues to support IR teams, C-suite executives, boards and their advisors.

“We find ourselves in a quickly evolving world,” Mark Simms, CEO, commented. “Shareholders are more involved in corporate governance issues than ever before, and the need for quality engagement is now critical. The success of that engagement relies on having accurate market intelligence and advice.”

Arif Syed may be reached at arif@cmi2i.com and Harry St. John Cooper may be reached at harry@cmi2i.com.

For more information on CMi2i Advisory, please visit our website or click here.

About CMi2i

CMi2i provides strategic capital markets intelligence and guidance to corporates, C-suites, Boards and their advisors. The firm specialises in the world’s most accurate equity & debtholder identification services, and delivers critical intelligence and insights for investor relations, M&A, activist defence, ESG investment, capital issuance & restructuring, corporate transactions and proxy solicitation. The CMi2i team has supported numerous corporate transactions and general meetings, and serves over 500 of the largest listed corporates globally.