Coffer Corporate Leisure (CCL) has made two senior appointments in response to the continuing surge of corporate activity in the leisure sector.

The only dedicated mergers and acquisitions advisor to the leisure industry, CCL has appointed Raoul Federman as Director responsible for corporate acquisitions and disposals. Federman joins from Heron Corporation, where he spent five years as Group Planning Manager with responsibility for financial investment appraisal and analysis. His experience in studying the financial viability of proposed schemes, investments and acquisitions will complement the existing strength of CCL in handling corporate transactions as well as OpCo/ PropCo structures. Prior to Heron, Federman qualified as a Chartered Accountant at Lubbock Fine before spending time at Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein, then, after receiving his MBA from Cranfield University, he advised Credit Suisse on its listing on the New York Stock Exchange.

Federman said “This continues to be an interesting period for the leisure market and it is a great pleasure to join such a strong advisory team at this time. With a deep pool of experience to draw upon we are well placed to develop efficient and innovative strategies for our growing client base.”

Jean-Paul Hegbourne has also joined CCL as an Analyst. A Cambridge Graduate, Hegbourne spent five years at JP Morgan Investment Bank as a pan-European Business Analyst, before joining retail business Raygun as Finance Director.

CCL Managing Director Mark Sheehan said: “These are two top-class additions at an extremely exciting time for the company. In our first year of business we have dealt with a number of transactions including the acquisition of Lewis & Clarke on behalf of Balls Brothers, the sale of Patisserie Valerie, the acquisition of Crown Sports for MidOcean Partners and two major sale and leaseback transactions worth in excess of £100 million. The corporate market shows no signs of slowing, with a number of transactions in the restaurant sector, further churn in the public house market and a major consolidation of the Health and Fitness sector well underway. We are advising on a number of high profile transactions and are delighted to attract high calibre staff to assist. Raoul and Jean-Paul will provide a dynamic new angle to Coffer Corporate Leisure whilst further strengthening its specialist expertise within the sector.”