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Centrus hires Rothschild Investment Banker

Posted on by Georgie Knight

Centrus has appointed a new Assistant Director, Damianos Boulakis, who joins from Rothschild & Co’s investment banking team.

With prior 9+ years’ experience at Rothschild, Rubicon Capital Advisors, KPMG and PwC, Damianos has advised institutional and private investors on a number of equity and debt related transactions across real assets space with an emphasis on social infrastructure, energy transition, digital infrastructure and regulated utilities. 

Damianos joins the Real Estate team as Centrus continues to grow its corporate finance advisory offering across operating real estate enterprises, affordable housing and social infrastructure and with a focus on mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and equity & debt capital raising services. 

“We are delighted to have Damianos come on board. He is a talented and highly skilled professional with significant M&A, equity & debt capital raising experience. We are well positioned to deliver high quality, independent advice to our clients building exceptional real estate enterprises.”     

Omer Fazal, Head of Real Estate – Centrus

“I am pleased to join Centrus’s talented team and I look forward to contribute to the team’s continued success.”

Damianos Boulakis, Assistant Director – Centrus

Centrus confirmed as keynote speaker at UK Renewables Academy

Posted on by Georgie Knight

Keynote speaker at ‘Introduction to Offshore Wind’

We are pleased to announce that Centrus will be the keynote speaker covering offshore wind financing and investment for the UK Renewables Academy’s four day offshore wind programme in September 2023.

“Understanding the principals about how windfarms are financed, bought and sold is critical to understanding the life cycle of a windfarm. This topic is gaining increasing importance as farms get bigger and more expensive. Securing an adviser of Centrus’ quality and experience in this area is an exciting development for the UK Renewables Academy.

Centrus’ insight will no doubt make for an extremely interesting seminar and we look forward to welcoming Centrus to Teesside University in September.”

Liam McIvor, Director – UK Renewables

“We are delighted to be involved in a programme focused on increasing knowledge and understanding around the renewables and offshore sector.

Our work with Ofgem, advising on £5 billion of recent and ongoing Offshore Transmission Operator (“OFTO”) sale processes, has given us a unique insight into how the UK can achieve its targets of 50GW of offshore wind by 2030.

As a certified B Corporation, Centrus is passionate about delivering solutions for a sustainable future, securing energy resilience and funding the energy transition to net zero”.

Adam MacDonald, Managing Director – Centrus

The course has been specifically designed and developed alongside leading industry professionals to give participants an understanding to every area of the sector. The course is also applicable to those who are experienced in one particular area and want to have a better understanding of the wider industry.

For more information on the course, click here.

Jonathan Spearing joins Centrus as Director from Poplar HARCA

Posted on by Georgie Knight

Centrus is delighted to welcome Jonathan Spearing as a Director, specialising in Social & Affordable Housing.

With over 16 years of experience working in the housing sector, the latter half as Director of Finance at Poplar HARCA, Jonathan has extensive knowledge across finance, treasury and governance as well as a particular interest in decarbonisation, regeneration and JV activity. 

Given Centrus’ market leading position within the housing sector in the UK and Ireland, Jon’s experience and expertise will be invaluable for both our team and clients.  

Centrus is widely recognised as the leading treasury and corporate finance advisor to the affordable housing sector. As a certified B Corporation, we provide advice & investment to the projects, companies and assets that matter to people, communities and the environment.

Our team has over 200 years of combined experience, spanning banking, derivatives, debt capital markets, equity, and financing strategies. Centrus also provides treasury reporting and sophisticated technology solutions from Centrus Analytics to a full spectrum of housing associations.

“Centrus’ market leading position creates a virtuous circle in enabling us to develop, retain and attract high quality professionals to underpin our objective of always delivering first class advice to and outcomes for our clients.

Jon further strengthens our exceptional team, providing valuable experience and insights from the front line of housing, and we are delighted to welcome him”. 

Paul Stevens, Managing Director – Centrus

“I’m excited to join such a talented team and am looking forward to meeting more housing associations and sharing experiences”.

Jonathan Spearing, Director – Centrus

Centrus achieves B Corp Certification

Posted on by Georgie Knight

We are incredibly proud to announce that Centrus has become a Certified B Corporation or B Corp. 

Certified B Corporations are companies verified to meet high standards of social, governance and environmental performance with credible and transparent evidence to prove it.  Centrus has also made a legal commitment to ensure that social or environmental performance is a part of its decision-making, regardless of company ownership.  B Corps demonstrate accountability and transparency by disclosing this record of performance in a public B Corp profile. 

Finance with Purpose

Centrus scored 115.7 points in the B Corp impact assessment process. This score is 35.7 points over the accreditation pass mark and sets a benchmark for Financial Services.

By certifying, Centrus has set a framework for continuous improvement. In order to maintain certification, companies must undertake the assessment and verification process every three years, demonstrating they are still meeting B Lab’s standards. In addition, Centrus want to use its certification to aid and encourage clients and peers on their own sustainable business journeys. 

Click here to view our full impact assessment score. 

“As a B Corp in the Financial Services industry, we’re proud to be counted among businesses leading the global movement for an inclusive, equitable and regenerative economy. 

For us, B Corp certification has been a 3-year journey packed with learning and sharing.  We are incredibly proud to be certified and this certification shows that we are using our business as a force for good”

George Roffey, Chief Sustainability Officer – Centrus

We have embedded sustainability in every operational component of our work and shout about it across our value chain. Our services help the financial viability of other purpose-driven enterprises and our sectors of operation have a tangible impact on the environment and on society. 

At our recent company away day, Centrus employees signed a copy of ‘The B Corp Declaration of Independence’, acknowledging our commitment to key principles and beliefs of the community of B Corps around the world.

For more information on the Centrus sustainability commitment, or on the B Corp Certification, please contact George Roffey, Chief Sustainability and People Officer at Centrus.

Webinar: Ofgem launch tender process for OFTO assets worth up to £2 billion

Posted on by Georgie Knight

Centrus is pleased to announce that our Consortium is advising Ofgem on the sale of transmission assets related to offshore wind farms under the Tender Round 10 process, with a combined capital value of up to £2 billion. 

The tender process for the Offshore Transmission Owner (OFTO) assets associated with:

  • Neart na Gaoithe Offshore Wind Farm
  • Dogger Bank A Offshore Wind Farm
  • Moray West Offshore Windfarm 

Launch Webinar: Thursday 26 January 2023 10:00 – 12:00

For those interested in this investment opportunity, please CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Speakers from Ofgem and the wind farm project developers, will describe the OFTO investment opportunity and introduce the three assets being brought to market in TR10. Following the presentations, you will have the opportunity to pose questions to our expert panel.

The registration form invites you to submit questions in advance. Please use that chance to ask any questions you may have before the event.

For more information, please contact Adam MacDonald, Managing Director – Centrus

Corelink team attend West Midlands Train Launch

Posted on by Georgie Knight

Jacqui Nelson and Ed Spracklen from Centrus were delighted to attend the launch event, on 14 October, of the Class 196 multiple unit fleet built by CAF and financed by Centrus’s client, Corelink Rail Infrastructure Limited. Corelink is leasing this fleet to West Midlands Train. The train will enter passenger service shortly.

Corelink was established in 2017 to own and lease the Class 196 fleet and two fleets of Alstom Class 730 Aventra multiple units.  The total acquisition price of the rolling stock was c£680 million. The Aventra fleets are under construction and delivery of Aventra units to Corelink has commenced.

The Centrus team structured and closed the financing in December 2017 and Centrus has continued to act for Corelink in managing the construction phase and commencement of leasing.

Centrus host titantreasury User Day 2022

Posted on by Georgie Knight

On the 27th of September 2022, we welcomed a host of clients to our UK titantreasury User Day. Gilles Bonlong and Terena Williams from Centrus were joined by Alexis Paulet and Alexander Marage from 3V Finance to present the latest developments on the titantreasury platform, which will further enhance our client’s treasury processes and operations.

The day provided a fantastic opportunity to bring titantreasury users together, including discussions around cash management, interest rate risk and an ESG/Sustainability workshop led by George Roffey, Chief Sustainability Officer at Cenrtus.

titantreasury is our expert Treasury Management System (TMS) that offers financial departments and treasurers the best functionalities for monitoring and controlling operational market risk (rate, foreign exchange, commodities), credit and liquidity risks. 

To learn more about titantreasury, please contact Gilles Bonlong, Director – Centrus

David Craig joins Centrus Infrastructure Team as Director

Posted on by Georgie Knight

Centrus is pleased to welcome David Craig into the Infrastructure Team as a Director.

With over 20 years of energy, utilities and infrastructure experience sitting across all sides of the transaction table as advisor, lender and principal sponsor, David has worked for leading firms both in the UK (pwc and Lloyds Banking Group) and most recently in Sydney for KPMG and Pacific Partnerships, the investment arm of the CIMIC Group, Australia’s largest infrastructure contractor.

Passionate about sustainability and the circular economy, David has been involved on a number of key renewable energy technology projects including onshore and offshore wind, solar PV, batteries, bioenergy and EfW as well as conventional generation and networks.

David’s experience of infrastructure has been focused on procurement, funding and delivery of complex large-scale projects often using innovative capital structures to ensure value for money outcomes.

Centrus provides corporate finance advisory services to public and private companies in the UK and Europe such as Yorkshire Water, UK Power Networks, EDP Naturgas Energia, Mutual Energy, Nortegas, NationalGrid, Thames Water, Electricity North West, Northern and Red Funnel. We also have strong working relationships with financial sponsors such as JP Morgan, Infracapital, FSI, DWS.

Centrus has supported clients across a range of infrastructure advisory mandates including strategic advice across capital structuring, whole business securitisation, credit ratings, restructuring and re-packaging of complex derivatives amongst other specialist subjects, and have now expanded its merger and acquisitions execution capabilities.

Centrus Celebrate 10 Year Anniversary

Posted on by Georgie Knight

On the 22nd of June 2022, the Centrus team were joined by colleagues, clients, family, and friends to celebrate our 10 year anniversary at Sea Containers, London.

Looking back on the last 10 year, Phil Jenkins, co-founder and Managing Director at Centrus said:

“The last 10 years has been quite a journey, made possible by the great people who have worked on the team over that time, past and present, our fantastic and loyal clients who have put their trust in us. 

We are proud of the business we’ve built, our ethos, team culture, and the positive impact we have had both through our day to day work and via Centrus Communities. We are doubling down on this as we continue to focus on our core theme of financial solutions for Sustainability, Real Assets and Essential Services”. 

You can watch the video above for highlights of the evening – thank you to all our guests for an incredible celebration.