Founders - Simon Read


 

Simon Read is a co-founder and Director of Otus & Co and Partner of Otus Corporate Finance LLP. He worked for 16 years to 2002 in Corporate Finance at Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein where he was Managing Director responsible for the hospitality, travel and transport sectors, dealing with M&A, IPOs, secondary offerings, privatisations and general financial advice.
From 1986 to 1990 he worked on a wide range of projects for companies such as Rio Tinto, Smith & Nephew, Saatchi & Saatchi and Bowater and was closely involved in the privatisation of the Electricity Supply Industry in England and Wales, managing the prospectus preparation for four of the 12 regional electricity companies.
In the early 1990s he was engaged on a series of major assignments for British Aerospace, including the rights issue in 1991, the re-organisation of its regional aircraft activities in 1992, the sale of its corporate jets business in 1993, the sale of Rover to BMW in 1994 and the restructuring of the four-partner Airbus consortium. In 1995, he advised Rio Tinto, devising the new structural elements of its award-winning synthetic merger with CRA of Australia. Also in this period he worked for Gallaher on its public offer for Invergordon Distillers in 1993 and for Boddington on its hostile bid for Devenish in 1991.
Since 1995, he has focused on the transport industry. He advised on the international equity offering of Finnair in 1995 and he has worked for BAA, Iberia, Vienna Airport, Thai International and Aer Lingus. In 1998, he advised on the IPO of British Regional Airlines and acted for DHL on the sale of a strategic stake to Deutsche Post World Net, working further for DHL the following year on the sales of DHL shares by Nissho Iwai and Japan Airlines. As well as the
DHL deals, during 1999 he advised on the privatisation of TAP Air Portugal, the rights issue of Austrian Airlines, the purchase of a stake in South African Airways by Swissair, the sale of a strategic stake in British Midland to Lufthansa and the privatisation of LOT Polish Airlines.
In 2000 he began to work with Paul Slattery to expand into the hospitality and travel industries, being appointed, together with Paul, in autumn 2000 to advise Compass Group on the sale of the Forte hotel brands, the largest ever hotel chain auction. Also in 2000 he acted for Swissair on its merger discussions with Alitalia. In 2001, in addition to completing the Forte sale, he advised on the IPO of Fraport (Frankfurt Airport), the largest ever airport equity offering and assisted on the defence of TBI from a hostile bid by Vinci.
Since co-founding Otus in 2002, Simon has worked with Otus colleagues on a range of advisory and M&A assignments for clients including NHH, GE Capital, Whitbread, Rezidor, Carlson, Scandic, Holidaybreak, Radisson Edwardian, Expedia, All Leisure, HBOS, RBS Barclays Capital, Alchemy Partners and others.
Simon has an undergraduate degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from Oxford University and a post-graduate degree in Philosophy from London University. He qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Price Waterhouse.
 

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Simon Read

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