James Tookman is a Partner based in the London office.
James has more than fifteen years of experience advising companies on day-to-day corporate finance and strategic matters and executing transactions. He has advised some of the world’s leading corporates – examples include Diageo, Unilever, and Compass Group - as well as working within the Private Equity space.
James has advised on situations with an aggregate value of over $150bn. He has worked with clients on transactions across a wide spectrum of geographies and across a mix of transaction types, including public and private M&A – structuring a range of acquisitions and disposals, along with celebrity partnerships – equity and debt financing, and activism defence.
James has worked across industries but is primarily focused on the wider Consumer sector. He has worked with companies and executed transactions across a number of sub-sectors – including Food & Beverage, Home & Personal Care, Retail, and Leisure – and has a particular depth of experience in Alcoholic Beverages. Some example transactions include: advising Diageo on its acquisitions of Don Papa, Aviation, and Casamigos, and its disposals of 19 North American spirits brands (including Seagrams VO, Myers’s, Parrot Bay, Romana Sambuca and Goldschlager), Picon in Europe, and Red Stripe beer; advising Unilever on the sale of its global Tea business to CVC Capital Partners and its public defence against a takeover attempt by KraftHeinz; and advising the Restaurant Group (owner of Wagamama) on its take-private by Apollo Global Management.
James joined Centerview Partners in 2014 to support the build out of the London office. Prior to joining Centerview, he worked in the Investment Banking division at UBS, spending time in the Consumer Products & Retail and Corporate Finance (M&A and Leveraged Finance) teams.
James holds a MEng in Engineering, Economics and Management from Oxford University.