Grant Thornton UK builds capability and capacity with addition of 11 new partners
Six of the new partners join via Grant Thornton UK's acquisition of Fairgrove, the strategic advisory business, as the firm's partnership expansion programme continues at pace.
Leading business and financial advisor Grant Thornton UK today confirms the appointment of 11 new partners spanning its advisory and audit practices. Six of the appointments join via the firm's acquisition of Fairgrove, the strategic management consultancy, with the remainder made up of new hires and internal promotions.
The six Fairgrove partners joining the firm are co-founders Paddy Woods Ballard, in National Management, and Patrick Woodrow, in Corporate Finance Advisory, together with Oli Lestner, Adam Lee and Andrew Keller, also in Corporate Finance Advisory, and Andrew Hawkins in National Management. All six are based in London.
The appointments also include two audit partners promoted from within the firm: Zeenat Patel in Audit (Manchester) and Mark Foster in Public Interest Audit (Leeds). They are joined by three further external hires: Lee Betteridge in Forensic and Investigations (London), Darshan Chandarana in AI Consulting (Bristol) and Nick Davies in Private Equity (London).
Malcolm Gomersall, Chief Executive Officer of Grant Thornton UK, said:
“July was a strong month for our partnership expansion, with 11 new partners joining across our advisory and audit practices. The addition of six colleagues from Fairgrove brings specialist, complementary expertise into the firm, alongside the continued progression of our own people into partner roles. These appointments add real depth in the areas where client demand is sharpest, and they keep us firmly on track to deliver our commitment of 160 new partners by the end of 2027.”
The appointments form part of Grant Thornton UK's two-year partnership expansion programme, launched in late 2025, which is targeting 160 new partners by the end of 2027. So far this year the firm has appointed 104 new partners in total, comprising 30 internal promotions and 74 external hires, of which 28 have already joined and a further 46 are in the pipeline, with confirmed start dates.
All Grant Thornton partners join on an equity basis unless they choose a salaried route.
Fairgrove supports business owners, managers and investors on strategy, transaction support and commercial due diligence, and will continue to operate under its own brand as Fairgrove, a Grant Thornton UK company.
The acquisition was Grant Thornton UK's first domestic deal since Cinven's investment, bringing Fairgrove's specialist strategy and commercial due diligence expertise together with Grant Thornton UK's existing strength in corporate finance, financial due diligence, value creation and transactions tax to build a joined-up, market-leading deals advisory practice for the mid-market.
Grant Thornton UK was named FDD Provider of the Year and Fairgrove CDD Provider of the Year at the Real Deals Private Equity Awards 2026.