John Craven

With a background in engineering, John has more than 30 years’ experience advising public and private companies across a wide range of commercial sectors. He brings a deep insight into the world of the owner manager, not least through his role in the development of Bridgewell as well as co-founding Smith Square Partners. John leads the firm’s Takeover Code advisory practice and has very wide experience of public market M&A transactions.

John is an alumnus of J Henry Schroder Wagg. From there he joined Phoenix Securities, which was ultimately acquired by Credit Suisse First Boston, where he was a Managing Director in the European M&A Group. He led the corporate finance team at Bridgewell, the mid market investment bank, for seven years from 2001 and was a main board director through the firm’s IPO and subsequent sale. John has several external roles in the not for profit sector, including being a Business Mentor for the Prince’s Trust.