Registered in England and Wales
Advisory services for UK companies and investment vehicles
Corporate finance advice tied to a transaction, and ongoing investment management support for companies, holding structures, and investment vehicles. Both disciplines are set out below, along with how engagements are scoped and where our scope ends.
Two disciplines, often on the same mandate
Maplewood Partners Limited provides corporate finance advisory and investment management support to UK companies, holding structures, and investment vehicles. The work splits into advice tied to a defined event and ongoing oversight of assets and reporting. In practice the two overlap: a refinancing is followed by covenant reporting, and a holding structure that raises capital still has a governance calendar to meet.
This page sets out what each service covers, how engagements are typically structured, and the situations where we are not the right firm to call.
Corporate finance advisory
Corporate finance advice relates to a defined event. A company raises debt, sells a subsidiary, brings in an investor, restructures a loan, or plans capital expenditure against a three-year horizon. Our role is to structure the options, model the outcomes, and put a recommendation in front of the people who have to approve it.
UK corporate finance advisory as a category covers M&A, funding, debt and equity advice, and capital strategy. It is delivered across a wide market, from big-four practices to single-adviser boutiques. The service looks similar on a website. It differs considerably in who does the work and how the fee is built.
Investment management support
Investment management support is the ongoing side. It covers mandate design, governance, reporting discipline, and the periodic review of performance against stated objectives. Clients who use this service are usually managing a pool of capital, whether that is a company treasury, a holding structure, or a listed investment company.
Asset management is a core segment within UK financial services, shaped by regulation, governance, and disclosure requirements. Firms in the sector often combine investment expertise with reporting and compliance support, and the advisers who serve them have to speak both languages.
Reporting discipline is the part clients feel every quarter: a mandate document that says what was agreed, and numbers that match it.
Funding and capital strategy
Funding work starts with a question about purpose. How much is needed, over what period, and what does the business expect to generate from it? A debt facility sized against a five-year plan looks very different from one sized to bridge a single project.
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First
Purpose and horizon
We agree what the money is for and over what period it has to work. A facility sized to a five-year plan carries different covenants from one bridging a single project, and the difference shows up in the term sheet.
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Second
The capital plan, tested
We prepare the capital plan and test it against realistic downside scenarios rather than a single base case, so the board can see where the plan strains before a lender does.
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Third
Options with their costs
Debt and equity options are set out side by side with relative costs and constraints. Where a board wants a second view on terms already on the table, we provide that too.
A recommendation that only describes the upside is not advice.
Debt and equity are not interchangeable, and the choice usually has more to do with control and covenant headroom than with headline cost. Equity dilutes. Debt constrains. Both bring reporting obligations that outlast the transaction. We set out the trade-offs in writing, including the scenarios where each option becomes uncomfortable.
M&A and transaction support
On transactions, we work on the buy side and the sell side, and on the preparation that precedes either. That includes information memoranda, financial modelling, due diligence coordination, and negotiation support alongside legal counsel.
Regional advisory capacity has grown. Leonard Curtis launched a dedicated funding team in Birmingham in 2026 as part of a national growth strategy, aimed at supporting businesses across the Midlands. That kind of move reflects demand from companies that want a transaction adviser within reasonable travelling distance rather than a team that dials in.
Debt and equity advisory
Debt and equity are not interchangeable, and the choice usually has more to do with control and covenant headroom than with headline cost. Equity dilutes. Debt constrains. Both bring reporting obligations that outlast the transaction.
We set out the trade-offs in writing, including the scenarios where each option becomes uncomfortable. A recommendation that only describes the upside is not advice.
Governance and reporting discipline
Where a client holds investments through a company structure, governance is not optional. Reporting obligations attach to the vehicle, and they run on a fixed calendar whether or not the market is cooperative.
Some of that work sits with specialist providers. Dorey Financial Modelling supports investment companies with regulatory disclosure requirements, working across areas that include KIDs, Consumer Duty, and the Consumer Composite Investments regime. We do not duplicate that function. We make sure the underlying numbers and mandate documentation are in a state that supports it.
What the calendar covers
- Mandate documentation kept current against what the vehicle actually holds
- Underlying figures reconciled before disclosure work begins
- Periodic review against the objectives written into the mandate
- A clear handover where specialist disclosure providers take over
How engagements are scoped and priced
Every mandate starts with a written scope. It sets out the deliverables, the timetable, the assumptions we are working from, and the fee basis.
- Fixed fee
- Applies to defined pieces of work such as a capital plan or an information memorandum, where the deliverable is known before we start.
- Retainer
- Applies to ongoing oversight: mandate design, reporting discipline, and the periodic review of performance against stated objectives.
- Success element
- Transaction mandates may include a success element, agreed in advance and written into the scope rather than negotiated at the end.
- First conversation
- The first scoping call is at no cost. Fees begin only once a written scope has been agreed by both sides.
We do not receive commissions from product providers, and we do not recommend instruments in which the firm holds a position.
When we are not the right firm
We decline work where the activity requires permissions we do not hold, where the timeline is unrealistic, or where the client's expectation of the outcome cannot be supported by the facts. Regulated investment advice to retail clients is outside our scope, as are legal, audit, and tax filings.
Pointing a client to the right firm costs us a mandate and saves everyone a wasted quarter. We would rather do that.
Questions clients ask before a first call
If your situation is not covered here, the scoping conversation is the fastest route to an answer.
What kinds of clients use corporate finance advisers in the UK?
Typically companies preparing to raise capital, sell a business, refinance, or restructure. Boards also use advisers for a second opinion on terms already proposed. Family-owned businesses and private equity-backed companies are common clients.
Can you act on both a funding raise and the ongoing oversight afterwards?
Yes, and it is often sensible. The same file and the same adviser carry through, which reduces the handover risk when reporting obligations begin.
Do you charge for an initial conversation?
No. The first scoping call is at no cost. Fees begin only once a written scope has been agreed by both sides.
Start with a written scope
Send us the outline of your mandate — the event or the pool of capital, the timeline you are working to, and what you already have on the table. We will come back with a written scope, the assumptions behind it, and a fee basis. The first scoping call is at no cost.
Monday to Friday, 9:00 AM – 6:00 PM · 4 Bridge Avenue, Earley, Reading, England · [email protected] · +44 20 7960 2493