Accountancy firm appoints new corporate finance director

ACCOUNTANTS RSM Bentley Jennison have appointed a new corporate finance director at their Leeds office. Alex Johnson joins the firm from Gamestec Leisure, a ВЈ90m turnover operator of amusement and gaming machines. He became finance director of Gamestec, a subsidiary of Kunick, when he joined in August 2002 after playing a significant role in the Andersens Corporate Finance team that advised Leeds-based Kunick plc when it went from public to private.

As finance director, he was a key member of the acquisition and integration team when Gamestec acquired competitor Rank Leisure Machine Services for ВЈ30m in February 2004. Prior to this, he spent nine years at Andersens which included several years focusing on private equity and general merger and acquisition advisory work. Team At RSM Bentley Jennison, he joins a 10-strong Yorkshire corporate finance team.

Also joining the firm is business development consultant Saffron Palmer who has spent the last nine years working at Close Credit Management Ltd, a division of Close Brothers Merchant Bank. She was recruited to Close as its UK operations manager before becoming business development executive in 2004. She then headed the professional partnerships division in 2005.