Services

Justin Welstead is a Founding Partner of Eight Advisory and the UK Managing Partner of Eight Advisory UK. He has over 25 years of transactions experience in the UK and French markets.

He has significant experience across various industries, with a particular focus on the Retail & Consumer, Healthcare, Industrials and Business Services sectors.

Justin advises FTSE 100 and CAC 40 corporates and large- & mid-cap private equity houses and family offices.

Before founding Eight Advisory, he was head of Transaction Support for EY France. Prior to this, he was in the Transactions team at Andersen in Paris and Edinburgh.

Justin earned both a Master’s in degree in French and an LLB in Law from the University of Edinburgh. He is a qualified Chartered Accountant (ICAEW). Justin is a bilingual French speaker.

Ben Norris is a Partner in Eight Advisory’s Transactions team in London, and has over 25 years of experience in providing financial due diligence (buy-side, VDD, refinancing, IBR) and SPA advice to both mid- and large-cap private equity and corporate clients.

Ben has worked with clients across various industries including Retail & Consumer, Healthcare, Education, Business Services, TMT, Industrials & Manufacturing, and Packaging.

Ben has led engagements on behalf of a number of private equity houses (3i, Astorg, LCatterton, Charterhouse, Graphite, LDC, PAI, Rutland, Teachers, Silverfleet, Vitruvian) as well as blue-chip corporate clients and founder-owned businesses.

Before Eight Advisory, Ben was a founding member and Senior Director at Alvarez & Marsal’s Transaction Advisory Group in London. Prior to this, he was a Director in the Transactions team at PwC in London.

Ben is a qualified Chartered Accountant and a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales (FCA).  He holds a bachelor’s degree in Economics from Nottingham University.

Tim Wainwright is a Partner in Eight Advisory’s Transformation team in London, with over 20 years’ experience in providing operational due diligence (buy-side, sell-side), carveout, integration and value creation / performance improvement advice to multiple clients across both the private equity and corporate sectors.

Tim has significant expertise in both pan-European and global engagements, and has worked across multiple industries, including Industrials & Manufacturing, Retail & Consumer and Business Services and in multiple situations including both transactions related and restructuring / distressed situations.

Prior to joining Eight Advisory, Tim led the Industrials sector team at EY and was a leading member of the Operational Transactions group in London where he was instrumental in bringing together Operations and IT to drive value in both pre-deal and post-deal situations.

Tim holds an MBA from HEC (Paris) and Wharton (Philadelphia).

Steve Taylor is a Partner of Eight Advisory’s Valuation Services team in London, with over 30 years of experience in valuations and corporate finance.

Steve’s work covers all aspects around the valuation of companies, equity, debt and intellectual property including: transactions, restructuring, litigation, expert determination, accounting, impairment testing, fiscal, NAV carrying values and fairness opinions.

He has significant experience across various industries, including Food & Drink, Business Services, Renewables, Industrial Products, Consumer Products and Financial Services.

Throughout his career, Steve has worked with FTSE 100s, governments, top tier law firms, private equity, family offices and entrepreneurs.

Before Eight Advisory, he was a Senior Partner at EY’s Valuations team in London and Head of EMEIA. Prior to this, he was a member of the M&A team at Hill Samuel Bank.

Steve earned a bachelor’s degree in Physics, with honors from Imperial College. He is a qualified Chartered Accountant and a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales. In addition, he is a Member of the Expert Witness Institute.