Press Room
Grant Thornton's newest partner to join high profile
delegation promoting UK business opportunities in India
Friday 9 November 2007
Grant Thornton has today strengthened both the firm's capital
markets team and its expanding South Asia Group with the
announcement that client service director Fiona Owen has been made
Partner.
Owen has extensive experience in corporate finance; prior to
becoming Partner she had already established herself as an integral
part of the Grant Thornton capital markets team over a five year
tenure, and before this spent three years at a City brokering firm
on completion of her law traineeship.
Owen is also a founding member of the firm's South Asia Group,
which amongst a wide range of services, provides cross-border
listing and M&A support for South Asian companies looking to
acquire businesses or raise funds in the UK.
As testament to the growing need for these services, Owen is now
the eighth Partner to join the South Asia Group, one of the 30
senior Grant Thornton staff from across the firm to add their
expertise.
Owen's appointment comes as she prepares to join an influential
business delegation visiting New Delhi and Mumbai this month, led
by London Mayor Ken Livingstone. The delegation aims to promote the
opportunities available for Indian businesses in the UK, with Anuj
Chande, Senior Partner and Head of Grant Thornton's South Asia
Group, a keynote speaker.
"The South Asia Group's culturally specific approach to business
development has been particularly successful to date, and Fiona has
been instrumental in this success," Chande said.
"Fiona's wealth of experience in fundraising on the LSE combined
with her success in developing relationships within the South Asian
business community has proven invaluable in our efforts to
encourage more Indian businesses to list in London, particularly on
AIM."
Grant Thornton already serves as Nomad and/or reporting accountant
for a growing number of Indian firms on AIM, and the firm has
several major listings coming up in the next six months, a
testament to the efforts made by the South Asia Group to
date.
"It is an exciting time to be a part of an organisation with such a
global outlook, and one that is certainly helping to foster the
Anglo-India business relationship. I am looking forward to using
speaking opportunities at several events we are involved with in
the months ahead to bring many more companies to London," Owen
said.
Upcoming events in which Owen is due to speak include the
Confederation of India Industry's second annual Capital Markets
Summit at the Bombay Stock Exchange, and a high profile 'Bollywood'
film industry conference in Goa.