First Sentinel is a full-service corporate advisory and investment firm.

Brian has over 20 years’ experience in corporate finance, including direct investments and financing into companies, IPOs, capital raisings and mergers and acquisitions for both public and private companies. He has held board positions on several public and private companies throughout his career, most notably with Rangers Football Club, Allegiance Insurance and NQ Minerals. Brian has also held director and management positions with Zeus Capital, Allenby Capital, Noble & Company and Grant Thornton. He served as a Regulator for the Panel on Takeovers and Mergers, where he presided over 150 transactions, including many valued over £1bn.

Aimee Freeding has over 20 years’ experience in leading product and platform experiences for the world’s top technology firms. She has held R&D positions with firms such as Xbox, Microsoft, Oracle and Expedia. Aimee is a Founder of First Sentinel and an investor in the resource and tech sectors, with a special focus on AR, VR, Games, IoT and FinTech. She holds an MSc in Human Computer Interaction from the DePaul University School of Computer Science in Chicago.

Colin is a lawyer and banker with over 25 years’ experience. He is the Founder of the First Sentinel Advisory division and previously founded his own firm, On Demand Lawyers. Colin is principally based in our London office, but also spends some time in our representative office in Buenos Aires, where he is developing the Latin American market. He brings expertise from both the legal and financial arenas, having previously worked in-house at Coutts & Co. and UBS. Colin specialises in international investment structuring, corporate/commercial and corporate finance work for family offices, SMEs and listed companies. He also spent many years working in the creative industry and has a particular specialism in advising creative clients.

Gabrielle advises clients on a range of corporate transactions, particularly IPOs, fundraisings and M&As, and provides day-to-day advice to listed companies on their continuing obligations. Gabrielle trained and qualified as a lawyer in 2009 at a leading corporate practice in Brazil. She later joined, as head of legal, a private equity firm of GP Investments focusing on infrastructure investments. Gabrielle also worked at Nestor Advisors, a London-based consultancy firm, where she advised clients across EMEA on corporate governance. Gabrielle is dual-qualified as an English solicitor and Brazilian lawyer. She has a master’s degree with distinction in Corporate Law from the London School of Economics and an MBA in Finance from Ibmec Business School, Brazil.

Stan has worked in the city for over 30 years, having begun his career training at Henderson Crosthwaite straight after school as a Stock Exchange Dealer in the old open Market. He spent 20 years there before joining Brewin Dolphin, where he served as a Divisional Director running a portfolio desk. He was also the main dealer in football club shares, helping to build stakes in leading clubs. He then teamed up with Melvyn Marks at Bastion Capital where they looked after high-net-worth clients, trading European and US stocks through CFDs and Spread Bets.

Celia is responsible for managing First Sentinel’s business development and investor relations in the Asia-Pacific region, with a particular focus on the Chinese market. She has over six years of experience in connecting global SME companies with institutional and high-net-worth investors in China. In addition, she has had an extensive and successful media career with major Chinese broadcasters and international media corporations, working as a TV presenter and interviewer of high-profile political and business personalities.

Melvyn is an experienced market-maker who has worked in the City for over forty years. He learnt his trade at Smith Brothers where he spent 15 years, before moving across the market to the newly formed BZW. After 10 years at BZW, he then joined Nomura to head up the retail market making section, later joining Kleinwort Benson and then Bastion Capital. Melvyn has extensive experience in both the Short Sterling Futures market and in Equities. At First Sentinel, Melvyn services high-net-worth individual investors using CFDs and Spread Betting platforms in major US and European stocks.

Melisa is a Senior Associate and a highly skilled corporate lawyer. She qualified in Argentina, following her undergraduate degree in law at Universidad de Buenos Aires and post-graduate studies in Compliance and Criminal Liability of Legal Entities at Universidad Torcuato Di Tella. She brings a solid understanding of international, civil, commercial and business law to First Sentinel and before joining us was a Senior Associate at a law firm in Buenos Aires, advising both Argentinian and international companies on corporate transactions and business development. She is fluent in both English and Spanish.

Ana is an Associate and leads IPO and M&A transactions, as well as manages client relations and Compliance issues. A licensed attorney in Brazil and Portugal (EU), between many challenges, she worked at Banco Santander, at the Sao Paulo City Hall, and acted in a leading law firm exclusively serving the Fortune 500 company VALE S.A. in the mining field. She holds a Master of Law and Business degree from Bucerius Law School in Hamburg (L.LM), Germany. Evangelist for Legal Design, Blockchain, and Digitalization, she speaks Portuguese, English, and German.

Ahmed joined First Sentinel as an Analyst in November 2021 and is part of the deal team working across several sectors focusing on market research, deal analysis and business valuations & planning. He recently graduated top of his class receiving a first-class honours degree in Finance from Aston Business School where he was on the dean’s list.

Prior to joining First Sentinel Ahmed worked as a Financial Analyst at EML an Australian FinTech company where he was part of the acquisitions team focusing on Tech acquisitions, he has worked on a number of buy-side deals carrying out valuation analysis and helping with the post implementation processes. He also worked at a boutique advisory firm where he managed the company account and was responsible for identifying and valuating acquisition targets.

He is fluent in English, Urdu, Punjabi, Hindi and intermediate in Arabic.

João Pedro is an Associate and advises clients on a range of corporate transactions, particularly equity and debt capital markets. He trained and qualified as a lawyer in Brazil, following his undergraduate degree in law at Universidade Presbiteriana Mackenzie. João Pedro worked as a capital markets associate in a leading law firm, advising both Brazilian and international companies on structured financial deals. He is fluent in English and Portuguese.

Jenny is an analyst at First Sentinel. Her previous experience includes roles in accounting and project management in the banking and insurance sectors in her native China, as well as an Assistant to the Director role for an investment advisory company in Edinburgh.

She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Management with a major in Accounting from the Chongqing University of Technology, and an MSc in Finance from the University of Sheffield. She is fluent in English and Mandarin.