Clare Boardman is a Senior Managing Director with Teneo, leading the Yorkshire and North-East Financial Advisory team. Clare joined Teneo as part of its purchase of Deloitte’s UK Restructuring business. Prior to the acquisition, Clare had been with Deloitte for twenty-two years.

Clare’s work involves supporting companies suffering from various levels of financial stress. Clare’s clients are generally corporates (PE owned or owner managed) or their lenders, and her focus is on turnaround, debt refinancing, disposals, options analysis, facility restructurings, contingency planning and insolvency. The situations are generally time pressured and stressful with numerous stakeholders to manage. Clare leads the Financial Advisory team’s national approach to ABLs (Asset Based Lenders), specialising in restructuring work in this area.

Sectors

• Clare has experience in a number of sectors including retail, casual dining, manufacturing/engineering, oil and gas, mining, recruitment and professional services.
• During the Covid-19 pandemic, Clare has supported various THL and consumer businesses in assessing their options with a focus on reducing their fixed cost base through improved lease property terms and site closures. Clare, therefore, also has expertise in CVAs and Restructuring Plans.

Leadership Skills / Role Model

• Clare is the Talent Lead for Financial Advisory, a role she is passionate about and which provides the opportunity to drive change through people development, recruitment, diversity & inclusion and well-being initiatives.
• Clare is a board member of the IFT (Institute for Turnaround), joining in 2020.

Project Examples

• Pizza Express Group – Supervisor of the PERL CVA following an options assessment and CVA viability phase of work, involving c. 400 landlords and c. 450 restaurant sites. Alongside this role, Clare led the work supporting the Group, with K&E International LLP, in launching the second ever Restructuring Plan. This broader restructuring of the Group was conditional on the CVA and led to the write-off of c. £1bn of debt, sale of Chinese trading operations and a change in ownership.
• Project Webber – Company advisor to a UK based non-food retailer, with circa 500 sites. Role included a full assessment of options following the impact of COVID-19 on performance, and negotiations with incumbent lenders.
• Quality Course Ltd T/A Transline – Lead advisor and ultimate administrator to the funder of a £200m turnover, £35m debt, 8,000 employee, blue collar temporary labour provider into warehousing and logistics.
• The Retreat York – strategic review with a key specialist mental health services provider.
• Project Tollery/Ministry of Defence – Financial advisor to the MOD in relation to Sheffield Forgemasters, a £80m turnover heavy engineering business with unique capabilities and a critical supplier to UK defence programmes. Provided a wide range of strategic and financial advice over several years, including review and challenge of options available, and advice on the UK Government’s decision to acquire the business which secured the future for the business, its 600 employees and saw the lender repaid in full.
• Bondshold Group – Administrator to a group of 3 steel foundries located in the North of England. Specialising in precision castings and heavy castings. Traded during insolvency with two business sales completed and one site closure. The Group had c. 250 employees and c. £10m of bank debt including an ID facility.
• Poundworld Retail Ltd – Administrator of the 335 store discount retailer, leading on the closure strategy and asset disposals, including driving significant lease premium realisations and working alongside Hilco as stock liquidation agent. Insolvency role followed CVA diagnostic and AMA process.
• Mamas & Papas Group – Advisor to the Group, owned by BlueGem private equity, to perform an accelerated strategic review of the Group in order to drive improved profitability in the short – medium term. This included identifying £7m of annualised central cost savings alongside executing a credit bid prepack of the retail business, closing six stores and retaining 21.
• YO! Sushi Ltd – Supervisor of the YO! Sushi CVA following an options assessment and CVA viability phase of work involving 70 restaurants.