A 25-year operating track record
Fred Danneau brings 25+ years as a CFO across PE-backed, AIM and PLC businesses — fundraising, debt restructuring and exits above market valuation, backed by a team that has executed alongside him for years.
London · Senior-led advisory
Board-level M&A and financial advisory — senior-led, transparent, built around you.
M&A, capital raising, restructuring, diligence and fractional CFO support for mid-market businesses at a pivotal moment — delivered by the senior adviser you actually meet.
Start with a free, no-obligation 20-minute consultation. We discuss your objectives, tell you plainly whether we can help, and set out fees openly before anything is committed.
25+
Years of CFO & advisory experience across EMEA, APAC and LATAM
How it works
Four steps — and the first two cost you nothing.
- 01
Enquire
FreeSend a short note through the contact or booking form. No documents, no commitment.
- 02
Free 20-min consultation
FreeA confidential 20-minute call with a senior adviser, booked instantly online. Free of charge, with no obligation to proceed.
- 03
Proposal
A written scope with fees stated up front — fixed fee, retainer or success fee, agreed before work begins.
- 04
Engagement
We start on signature, and you track everything through your secure client portal.
We don't publish rate cards — every scope differs. Fees are discussed openly on your free consultation and confirmed in writing before any chargeable work starts. There is no upfront commitment of any kind.
Book a Free 20-Min ConsultationClient Service Delivery Platform
Every mandate runs through your own secure portal.
Engagement status, deliverables, invoices and a direct line to your advisor — in one place, updated as the process moves. Create an account in two minutes, with or without an active mandate.
Engagement status
Phase, progress and target close dates, live.
Deliverables
Reports and board packs, downloadable and versioned.
Invoices
Issued, due and settled — with payment coming shortly.
Advisor messaging
A written record of every decision and instruction.
How We Work
Discovery → Diligence → Execution → Post-CloseI
Discovery
Two weeks of objective-setting, shareholder alignment and preliminary valuation framing. You leave with a defensible view of what the asset is worth and to whom.
II
Diligence
Quality-of-earnings, working capital normalisation and data room construction, compressing the modelling cycle without compromising rigour.
III
Execution
Controlled outreach, management presentations, bid evaluation and negotiation of heads of terms through to signing.
IV
Post-Close
Completion accounts, earn-out monitoring and integration support — with reporting delivered through your client portal.
Why work with us
Four reasons boards appoint us — and none of them are a logo wall.
Fred Danneau and his team don’t publish client names, logos or quotes — mandates stay confidential. Here’s what they can tell you instead.
Partner-led, with no handoff
Fred and his team run your mandate end to end. They take on fewer engagements rather than staffing them out after the pitch, so the people you meet are the people who do the work.
A platform, not a paper trail
Live engagement status, versioned deliverables and invoices in your own secure portal — not scattered email threads.
Transparent, fixed-fee options
Scoped work is quoted as a fixed fee. Transactional mandates combine a modest retainer with a success fee, agreed in writing up front.
Leadership
Senior advisory. Clear financial insight. Personal accountability.
Fred Danneau
Founder · Chief Executive & Financial Officer
CFO Advisory | M&A, Turnaround & PE-Backed Growth Specialist | Board Advisor
Strategic, commercially focused CFO with 25+ years of international experience transforming financial performance, scaling businesses and delivering major value-creation events across Telecommunications, Technology, IT Services and PE-backed sectors. Fred partners with Boards, Founders, CEOs and Private Equity funds to execute complex M&A, restructure underperforming operations, deliver cash-focused turnarounds and strengthen governance, systems and financial control environments across EMEA, APAC and LATAM.
Deep expertise in IFRS/UK/US GAAP, SOX, treasury, private equity, tax strategy, investor relations, FP&A, global consolidations and multi-currency reporting. Extensive AIM and PLC experience, with a strong record in fundraising, debt restructuring, stakeholder management and delivering exits above market valuation.
- CFO Advisory
- M&A & Disposals
- Turnaround & Growth Leadership
- Investor Relations
- Treasury & Liquidity
- PE Value Creation
- Board Reporting & Governance
Insights
Written by Fred DanneauSale readiness12 August 2026
Preparing for a sale: what buyers actually diligence
By Fred Danneau
A sale process moves fastest when the seller has already answered the questions a buyer will ask. In practice, that means clean, reconciled management accounts; a clear picture of customer concentration and contract terms; visibility over working capital swings across the year, not just at a point in time; and an honest account of key-person risk.
None of this needs to be perfect before a process starts, but knowing where the gaps are — and having a credible plan to close them — changes how a buyer reads the business from the first meeting. The businesses that command the best terms are rarely the ones with no issues; they're the ones where every issue has already been anticipated and explained.
Fractional CFO29 July 2026
When a fractional CFO makes sense — and when it doesn't
By Fred Danneau
Fractional CFO support fits well when a business has outgrown what a bookkeeper or part-time accountant can offer, but doesn't yet have the volume or complexity to justify a full-time hire — typically around a fundraise, a sale process, a banking relationship that needs managing, or a period where financial control has simply fallen behind growth.
It tends to fit less well as an indefinite, low-intensity arrangement — the value comes from focused, time-bound engagement around a specific objective, not from a standing weekly presence with no end point. The most effective fractional CFO relationships are scoped around an outcome — get the business investor-ready, get through a lender's due diligence, rebuild the reporting pack — with a clear sense of what "done" looks like.
Debt & lenders9 July 2026
Reading the room: what lenders look for in 2026
By Fred Danneau
Lenders haven't stopped lending, but they have become more selective about where. Beyond the headline numbers, what tends to move a credit decision is evidence of forward visibility — a rolling cash forecast that's actually used, not just produced for the bank — and a management team that can explain variance against plan without reaching for excuses.
Covenant headroom matters less than the trend in covenant headroom. A business that can walk a lender through exactly where its numbers will be in two quarters, and why, is in a fundamentally stronger negotiating position than one presenting a strong balance sheet with no forward narrative attached.
Commence a Consultation
Discuss your strategic objectives in complete confidence, directly with the senior adviser who would run the mandate. The initial consultation is free and there is no obligation to engage us — or book a time directly.