Investing in U.S. and Canadian middle market companies undergoing strategic transition.
 

Our People


Chris Hall, Group Chief Executive Officer and Partner

Chris Hall
Group Chief Executive Officer
chall@hilcoeurope.com

Chris leads the Hilco Appraisal team in the U.K. and Europe that assists private equity firms with pre-acquisition due diligence, facilitation of acquisitions and exits, and portfolio company performance enhancement and profit improvement.

Chris has more than 25 years of experience and involvement in merger and acquisition, insolvency and restructuring transactions, embracing skills ranging from asset valuation to asset monetization. He has been involved in some of the largest and most high profile projects in the European region and internationally.

Throughout his career, Chris has worked closely with buyout groups as well as major UK lenders (commercial and asset-based), chartered accountants, and corporate enterprises involved in corporate finance, restructuring and insolvency projects. He has diverse industry knowledge encompassing most asset classes in a variety of pan-European projects.


Jason Hall, Director & Partner

Jason Hall
Director and Partner
jhall@hilcoeurope.com

Jason has provided solid valuation advice to asset-based lenders, financiers and insolvency practitioners for over 20 years. He has diverse experience across all major industry sectors from machine tools and metalworking to pharmaceuticals and composites.

Jason joined Hilco as a Director and Partner to lead the team in the North of England in developing the business both domestically and throughout Europe. His combined expertise as both an auctioneer and valuer is crucial to the development of Hilco Industrial’s services. He has sold to thousands of bidders in auction venues from Enron to Arsenal Football Club.


Kevin Smyth, Director

Kevin Smyth
Director
ksmyth@hilcoeurope.com

Kevin has been providing valuation advice and services to financial sector clients including Banks, Accountants, Asset Based Lenders, Insurance Companies and Corporates for almost 20 years. Previous to joining Hilco Kevin was a partner at Bache Treharne.

Combined with a vast range of experience gained across major categories of plant, machinery and inventory in the UK, Kevin has also worked extensively overseas on projects in the Far East, Middle East, South America and throughout the European Union. In addition he has been involved in some of the most high profile and significant insolvency disposition projects in the UK over recent years. He has also been engaged in assignments to provide expert witness and compulsory purchase reports.


John Boorman, Director

John Boorman
Director
jboorman@hilcoeurope.com

John is a veteran insolvency and valuation professional with over 22 years industry experience. He is a specialist in heavy industrial machinery and business asset valuations.
 
John has been the lead appraiser on numerous recent high profile valuation assignments, including a leading brand automotive manufacturer on behalf of a syndicate of asset-based lenders. His vast experience encompasses Europe and the Far East on cross-border valuations, asset management and multi-discipline disposals for lenders and insolvency practitioners across a broad spectrum of European industries.
 
He is a consultant to financial institutions and insolvency practitioners. He provides comprehensive and reliable valuation and exit strategy advice on most industry asset classes, both in the public and private sectors.


Ian Bacon, Director

Ian Bacon
Director
ibacon@hilcoeurope.com

Ian joined the Hilco team in June 2009 to manage the newly opened Birmingham office. Prior to this Ian was an Associate with King Sturge, Bache Treharne and DoveBid and is a qualified member of the RICS.

Ian has been involved in the appraisal and disposal of machinery and business assets for 9 years and predominantly works within the corporate insolvency and asset based lending valuation sectors. He regularly acts for major banks, asset-based lenders, accountants, finance houses, lawyers and industrials. He has been involved in some of the most high profile and significant projects in the UK particularly in the IT and automotive industry.

Ian has developed considerable experience and strong appraisal knowledge, based on his range of experience in asset disposal. He is an accomplished auctioneer with strong knowledge of onsite, webcast and online auctions, both in the UK and throughout the EU.


Peter Atkinson, Director

Peter Atkinson
Director
patkinson@hilcoeurope.com

Peter has worked on some of the most high profile Restructuring Projects in the past decade. He has also advised Asset Based Lenders and Insurers. Prior to joining Hilco Peter was a partner at King Sturge and Bache Treharne.

Peter has worked on assignments across the Globe for Lenders, Corporates, and Insolvency Practitioners. Peter is a member of the RICS. He sits on the Machinery and Business Assets faculty and is a RICS APC Assessor. 

Peter has experience in most industry sectors, and has advised in a wide range of disposal projects.


Martin Taylor, Head of Finance

Martin Taylor
European Head of Finance
mtaylor@hilcoeurope.com

Martin joined the Hilco in 2008 from industry, where he held interim Finance Director positions involved in debt and equity funding, restructuring and insolvency projects. Whilst he has an internal role as European Head of Finance, he undertakes asset based lending and insolvency projects for clients.  

Martin has worked in the US, mainland Europe and the UK for major Banks, Private Equity Firms, Finance Houses and Accountants on funding, restructuring and recovery valuation projects in manufacturing, wholesale and retail, across industries, sectors and asset classes.


Mark Newman, Director

Mark Newman
Director
mnewman@hilcoeurope.com

Mark’s career as a capital asset appraiser spans over 20 years. His advice has been sought by most of the UK’s top asset-based lenders, banks, corporate finance houses and corporate recovery specialists.

The cross-border nature of many of today’s lending facilities has taken Mark to several european countries, where he has appraised machinery and equipment ranging from food processing to heavy engineering.

With experience in the majority of industrial asset verticals, Mark is well
positioned to provide all types of valuation advice from insurance and balance sheets to open market values of machinery and equipment or inventory and stock. Mark is a member of the National Association of Valuers and Auctioneers.


Simon Halsey, Associate Director

Simon Halsey
Associate Director
shalsey@hilcoeurope.com

Simon is an expert in the valuation and sale of machine tools and metalworking equipment. He has sold assets to buyers throughout the world from various manufacturing facilities in the UK and Europe. Simon has managed auction projects with realisations ranging from £50,000 to in excess of £1,000,000.

Simon joined the team at the beginning of 2008 to focus on industrial equipment sales. His experience extends beyond metalworking equipment to other core industries such as plastics and rubber, woodworking, chemical processing, textiles and motorsport.

Simon has worked for clients in both the private sector as well as major UK financial institutions.


Brendan Smyth, Associate Director of Valuation Services

Brendan Smyth
Associate Director of Valuation Services
bsmyth@hilcoeurope.com

Brendan has an extensive knowledge of inventory appraisals, working for major asset based lenders and insolvency practitioners. His experience extends to cross-border valuations in numerous asset classes including retail and wholesale inventory, industrial machinery, automotive manufacturing plants and many other sectors.

Brendan has worked independently on projects including retail clothing, electronics, toys, home entertainment, metals, textiles and home decorating products, food and beverage, automotive and plastic injection moulding industries and numerous others.

Brendan continues to focus his attention to inventory appraisals supporting asset-based lending facilities. To date he has worked in the UK, Italy, Belgium, Germany, Norway, Republic of Ireland, Switzerland, Netherlands and Australia.


John Boxall, Manager of Valuation Services

John Boxall
Manager of Valuation Services
jboxall@hilcoeurope.com

John joined Hilco in 2008 and is currently studying to become a Chartered Surveyor, having furthered his development by completing a Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS)-accredited qualification.

To date, John has predominantly worked in inventory valuations, both independently and as part of a wider Hilco team to provide analytical and advisory services to major clients in the asset based lending and insolvency markets throughout Europe. He has also worked on major plant and machinery valuations throughout his 6 years within the industry.

In addition, John's asset disposal experience covers all platforms from private treaty sales of specialist assets to online auction sales of a wide variety of assets.