Mark Florman

Mark Florman (born 2 November 1958) is a British businessman. He is a co-founder and former CEO of Maizels, Westerberg & Co.

Professional background

Florman graduated from the London School of Economics and Political Science in 1981.

He joined The Northern Trust Bank, Chicago, where he co-founded the interest rate swap business in America and worked in corporate banking, US T-Bills and money & capital markets. From the mid-1980s as a Director of County Bank and then a Partner of Enskilda Securities he advised on corporate restructurings, M&A and equity capital markets. In 1991, he worked on the acquisition of Scandinavian Bank for Enskilda and co-founded SEB Capital Markets in the same year.

In 1992, Florman was co-founder and later CEO of Maizels, Westerberg & Co.,^[1] which became a leading independent firm in M&A and corporate restructurings, advising on Scandinavia’s largest corporate rescue (Kooperativa Förbundet) and the largest corporate breakup in Europe (Procordia, creating Swedish Match and Pharmacia).^[2] MW & Co. pioneered Public Private Partnerships in the Nordic countries, advising state entities and governments. MW & Co. established advisory businesses in shipping and structured finance (e.g. Hambro Maizels Westerberg, with Hambros Bank) and in principal investing. The firm won a number of awards for its advisory work. MW& Co. was ranked No. 1 amongst independent European corporate finance houses by IFR in both 1998 and 1999.

In July 1999, he was named as one of London’s top 10 Rain Makers by the Sunday Business newspaper.^[3] Florman sold MW & Co. in 2000 to create MNB Maizels and then ArosMaizels (following the merger of six investment banking entities across six countries) which became the largest investment banking group in the Nordic region.

From 2001-2008 he was Senior Principal with the European private equity firm Doughty Hanson. He served as Vice Chairman and later Chairman of LM Glasfiber for a number of years, the world's leading manufacturer of blades for wind turbines, expanding manufacturing into Asia, Europe and North America.

In 2009, Florman co-founded 8Miles, the African private equity initiative with Sir Bob Geldof and Kofi Anan. He has co-founded a number of businesses in the media, transport and publishing sectors, including the UK logistics business eCourier. He has also served as a member of the EASD (Belgium) and APCIMS (UK) Corporate Governance Committees, introducing new models of corporate governance.

In January 2011, he was announced as the new head of the British Private Equity and Venture Capital Association.^[4]

Philanthropic activities

Florman co-founded the Centre for Social Justice in 2004, a UK think tank regarding social justice and poverty. He also founded Build a School, in Africa, in 2002, completing the building so far of 115 primary schools across East Africa.^[5]

He is a supporter of social venture capital and puts forward a general case that NGOs should operate in accordance with sound business principles, and must be able to demonstrate a clear investment case for everything they do.^[6] He is on the board of Build Africa, the CSJ and the Swedish Chamber of Commerce, is an Ambassador of the Royal Albert Hall, and has been active in politics, advising the UK Conservative Party on strategy and financing (and served as Deputy Treasurer from 2002–2007).

Notes and references

1. ^ The Times 20/09/1993
2. ^ The Sunday Business 04/07/1999
3. ^ http://www.am-hosts.com/articles/Sunday_Business_MFlorman0799.pdf The Sunday Business 04/07/1999 page 1
4. ^ http://www.bvca.co.uk/About-BVCA/features/Ourpeople2
5. ^ http://www.build-africa.org/pages/about-us.html
6. ^ This is Africa (Financial Times) 01/06/2009

• The Sunday Business 04/07/1999 page 1
• The Financial News 07/02/2000
• This is Africa (Financial Times) 01/06/2009
• Financial Times 02/09/2010
• Daily Telegraph 03/09/2010
• Financial Times 19/11/2011

External links

• British Venture Capital Association
• Centre for Social Justice
• Build Africa
• Swedish Chamber of Commerce UK

Persondata
Name	Florman, Mark
Alternative names
Short description	British business leader and philanthropist
Date of birth	2 November 1958
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death