Smallwood brings to the position more than 30 years of international experience in investor relations and financial communications, to support the local IPOs and transaction communications in both the UAE and Saudi Arabia.
Instinctif Partners, one of the major business communications and management consultancies in MENA, has further strengthened its team as it continues to build and grow its franchise in both Riyadh and Dubai.
Matthew Smallwood, a founder and Managing Partner within Instinctif Partners, has relocated to the region from London to build and extend the investor relations (IR) and Financial Communications team, alongside Frederic Cornet, Head of MEA Capital Markets & Investor Relations.
Matthew joined Instinctif’s predecessor company, College Hill in 1989 and has been a mainstay in its Capital Markets business for more than 30 years. He has experience in advising and promoting companies to investors, analysts and marketing companies through the media. During his time he has been involved in almost every type of corporate situation: IPO, Mergers and Acquisitions, fundraising, crisis management and more generally bespoke day-to-day communication programmes.
Notable transactions he has been involved with include Froneri’s £3bn acquisition of Nestle’s Ice Cream business to create the largest ice cream business in the world, The $3bn sale of Millennium Hotels to CDL and a Stars Group acquisition, for $4.3 bn. He has also been instrumental in assisting companies in crisis notably Findus in the global horsemeat scandal and ASOS’s distribution warehouse fir
Speaking about the relocation of Smallwood, Samantha Bartel, CEO of Instinctif MENA said: “We are delighted to have Matthew join our successful and growing MENA team. There are few people with his experience and knowledge of capital markets. Not only will he help us grow our business, but also our people will benefit from his extensive experience.”
Instinctif Partners have also grown their Riyadh and Dubai-based Capital Markets and Investor Relations teams, by adding 11% since last year, to better serve local client demand.
Matthew Smallwood, Managing Partner, Instinctif added: “I am really thrilled to have relocated to the Middle East. Both Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are among the most active and exciting markets in the world today and Instinctif’s MENA practice one of the fastest growing across our group. I am eager to assist in growing the practice further and sharing my experience for the benefit of existing clients, new companies and the team.”
