Dr. David Young
Founder & Chief Executive

David's time as Head of Sell-Side M&A, Europe, at JPMorgan, saw the company climb to the top of the league table for M&A advisors on divestitures in Europe. In 2001, David founded Shield Corporate Finance Ltd. as an independent specialist advisory firm, to provide world-class M&A advice without regard to transaction size and without conflicts of interest. With a special interest in the keys to success in divestiture work, Shield is committed to producing remarkable results for shareholders and has developed a Value Building consultancy business in addition to its core M&A advisory activity.

Career synopsis

Shield Corporate Finance: Founder & Chief Executive (London)
JPMorgan: Chemicals/Pharma/Biotech M&A, Head of Sell-Side M&A, Europe (London)
Merrill Lynch: Head of European Healthcare M&A (London)
Wasserstein Perella: German M&A (London)
Goldman Sachs: M&A (New York)
Booz Allen Acquisition Services: M&A (Paris & New York)
Bain & Company: strategy consulting (London)

Sell-side transaction experience includes:

Shield's sale of Cambridge Pharma Consultancy to IMS Health Watch 5 minute video case study
Shield's sale of Exchequer Software to Iris Read case study
Shield's negotiation of the MBO of TDSi from Upperpoint Manufacturing Read case study
Thales' sale of Racal Instruments to US private equity funds
Swisscom's real estate sale/leaseback to CSAM & Lehman/PSP
Bull's sale of its Smart Cards (CP8) to Schlumberger
JPMorgan's sale of a stake in Arcordia, the first web-based derivatives settlement business
Aventis' sale of its 67% interest in Messer Griesheim to Allianz Capital and GS Capital
Investcorp's sale of Breguet to Swatch Group and Ebel and Chaumet luxury watches to LVMH
Sale of AM Paper to SCA for HSBC Private Equity
Sale of Coats Viyella's Dynacast precision engineering to Cinven
Sale of Unilever's Plant Breeding International to Monsanto
Roche's divestiture of Syva diagnostics from Syntex
Sale of YSL's perfume business to Sanofi
Sale of AWD (largest German pharma company) to Degussa

Other transaction advisory experience includes:

Acquisition of Tank & Rast by Allianz Capital, Apax and LSG (then largest ever German LBO)
Zeneca's acquisition of public Dutch ag-biotech company Mogen (at half the market price)
Sankyo's acquisition of Luitpoldwerke (in an auction)
Successful defence of Consolidated Goldfields against Minorco
Beecham's merger with Smithkline Beckman

Education & interests

David graduated from Balliol College, Oxford, with a first in philosophy and theology, and a doctorate in political philosophy, involving two years as a Rhodes Scholar at Heidelberg University. He is a member of the Securities Institute, and is fluent in French, German and Italian. Married with three daughters, David is on the board of Alpha France, and serves as a lay preacher. His other interests include sailing and windsurfing.

David leads Euromoney's Financial Negotiation Masterclass and speaks globally on a variety of M&A topics. Widely in demand as an after-dinner speaker, David is the co-author of 'Increase & Extract the Value of Your Business' (available here) and a programme leader on the accompanying Value Building Programme. David is currently working on a new book entitled, 'Lift Off! Selling your business for more than it's worth, honestly'.