Nick Fookes
Verified Expert in Finance
Management Consulting Expert
London, United Kingdom
Toptal member since August 26, 2021
Nick is a CFA with a 28-year track record spanning 40+ countries in M&A, finance, strategy, and policy. He's supported executive decisions in 60 high-stake projects, including M&A transactions ($46 billion), radio-spectrum auctions and trades ($3.5 billion), public policy advocacy, government contract bids (worth $1 billion), go-to-market strategies, and raises for small caps and tech startups. Independent since 2001, Nick has enjoyed working in diverse markets, sectors, and cultures.
Career Highlights
Education Highlights
Certification Highlights
Case Studies
Expertise
Work Experience
Director
Invictus Strategy Associates
- Advised Liberty Global during the £31-billion merger of Virgin Media with Telefónica UK (O2). Covered adjustments to equalization payments contingent on 5G spectrum-auction outcomes and a valuation of a spectrum license acquired by O2 from rival BT.
- Guided a small-cap telco equipment vendor raising £5 million for disruptive product R&D and working capital needs. Delivered a flexible financial model to evaluate options and support the raise, an investment red-flag review, and investor pitch docs.
- Counseled telecom regulators in Bahrain and Oman on the valuation of radio-spectrum licenses and public policy relating to the renewal of expiring usage rights and the allocation of incremental 5G frequency blocks.
- Helped develop the strategy and pitch deck, securing $2.1 million from Y Combinator, Samsung Next, and other investors as a founding shareholder of Sitenna, a UK SaaS marketplace connecting mobile network operators with real-estate owners.
- Advised an international IoT platform-solutions provider on their EU market entry; this included a review of relevant telecoms regulations and how they might affect operations and influence its value proposition.
- Guided an innovative small-cap antenna manufacturer in Ireland on its global go-to-market strategy. Sized markets and ranked opportunities using weighted scores, leading to a targeted international marketing drive.
Finance, Strategy, and Policy Advisor
Cogent Strategy Limited (Freelance)
- Created a proprietary radio-spectrum valuation model and an integrated auction simulation, tracking, and decision-support toolkit underpinning $3.5 billion in spectrum investments across 31 spectrum auctions, awards, and trades in 19 countries.
- Advised on multibillion-dollar asset-sharing deals between mobile operators in Asian and Western European markets—building common financial and operational models using mutually confidential data and facilitating negotiations on a clean-team basis.
- Built the financial model and investment case, supporting a $3 million Series A raise for PoLTE Inc. and enabling the development and commercialization of its high-precision indoor and outdoor positioning technology for low-cost asset trackers.
- Developed the financial model underpinning the raise of $200 million in equity plus a $350 million warehouse-debt facility for a startup-structured aircraft leasing fund.
- Guided the Nigerian Broadcasting Commission on potential auction receipts from the award of digital dividend spectrum to mobile operators in Nigeria and on the scope to use auction proceeds to fund the analog-digital TV switchover.
- Valued mobile licenses in Iraq and advised Ooredoo on auction bid strategy during the 2007 license award; valued Ooredoo's and its rivals' existing mobile assets in Iraq and assessed strategic M&A options in the event of failure to secure a license.
- Led the commercial due diligence and investment appraisal for a prospective acquisition of Meditel, the 2nd mobile network operator in Morocco.
- Advocated for merger control on behalf of a Latin American mobile operator—drafting an expert report and making the case, supported by cross-country research, that consolidation would promote sector sustainability and improve retail market outcomes.
- Advocated for reduced annual spectrum license fees in the UAE, generating $210 million in savings for mobile operator "du"; challenged the regulator's spectrum-price benchmarking exercise and invoked broader public interest considerations.
- Led a multidisciplinary team of specialists to develop MTN's market-entry strategy and its market size and revenue forecasts for license valuation and produce the bid books supporting its bids for the second and third mobile licenses in Saudi Arabia.
Opportunity-cost Modeling Expert
MIJAN, LLC
- Developed an engagement-tracking and decision-support tool in Excel for Mijan, a specialist marketing consultancy.
- Combined standardized qualitative and quantitative criteria to create engagement scores, informing go and no-go decisions and taking opportunity costs into account.
- Designed a simple financial and operational template for forecasting and tracking purposes, both at the level of individual engagements and on a portfolio basis.
- Created functions allowing Mijan to optimize its proposed remuneration structure across any combination of fees, performance-related bonuses, and/or equity, leading to significant improvement in Mijan's negotiation process.
- Introduced output schedules providing a 360-degree view of performance and ROI from client and Mijan perspectives, per engagement and across the portfolio for clients.
Finance Lead for a UK National Emergency Services Network Contract Bid
EE Ltd (Contract)
- Built the financial model for EE's bid for a £700-million contract to provide the UK's Emergency Services Network until 2022; it was also used to support internal investment appraisal, corporate governance processes, and in-life contract management.
- Counseled on optimal pricing structure, taking account of the impact of pricing on: (a) the total bid price (under the tender assumptions); (b) returns in downside scenarios; and (c) the scope to maximize actual returns under EE's projected volumes.
- Advised on the negotiation strategy as a member of EE's contract negotiations team interfacing with the UK government—helping secure more favorable terms, such as less onerous SLAs and penalties and pricing flexibility to address cost uncertainties.
Founder | CEO
InfoTerrier Limited
- Founded and led a multimedia startup in the enhanced business search space, conceived as a market-entry vehicle for challengers in the online business directories sector (e.g., foreign yellow pages operators).
- Raised £200,000 in seed funding, including the award of a £45,000 SMART Innovation grant from the UK Department of Trade and industry and £90,000 in vendor financing from IT/software development partners.
- Mobilized a team, spanning platform developers, data management specialists, and branding and marketing experts.
- Managed the R&D program from concept to platform prototype and oversaw patent applications for the company's abbreviated free-text interpretation technology.
- Secured commercial alliances with data providers and a leading phone-based directory operator (a key initial distribution channel).
International Corporate Developer
BT (British Telecom Plc)
- Developed financial, (DCF) valuation, and operational models supporting acquisitions and bids for mobile licenses in overseas markets; supported investment appraisal through comparative multiples benchmarking and assessed group synergies.
- Valued the mobile assets—highlighting challenges posed by Japan Telecom's fragmented regional networks and organizations and NTT's market dominance—for BT's £1.2-billion joint acquisition with AT&T of a 30% stake in JT (now owned by Softbank).
- Facilitated the $1.3 billion acquisition of a 33% stake in Maxis Cellular, Malaysia, by valuing the mobile assets (DCF and comparable multiples) and taking plausible industry-consolidation scenarios into account.
- Developed the business plan underpinning Telfort's, Netherlands (a BT JV), bid for a mobile license and key radio-spectrum assets; initiated and led a study into fixed-mobile synergies, justifying the winning €250-million auction bid.
- Valued mobile operators in Brazil during the privatization of Telebras; advised against acquisition on the grounds that the benefits of control didn't justify the premium (i.e., BT shareholders would be better off buying free-float equity or ADRs).
- Conducted commercial due diligence on a mobile operator in Hong Kong and assessed shareholder value-creation upside from market consolidation.
- Developed the financial model and business plan supporting BT's bid for the 3rd mobile license in the Czech Republic and co-wrote the bid book; used the model to value the license and assess the total market-entry investment.
- Prepared board papers and briefings and presented, successfully defending M&A and license, plus market-entry investment proposals, at the BT executive committee level.
- Represented BT at Airtel (now Vodafone Spain) shareholder meetings—liaising with telco co-equity holders on corporate governance and shareholder strategy.
- Recruited, trained, and managed three finance and strategy professionals.
Financial Analyst | Account Manager
MeesPierson Bank NV
- Developed cash-flow models to evaluate non-recourse financing proposals in the (at the time nascent) mobile communications industry and the cable and pay-TV sectors. Used the models to bring key elements of risk into focus.
- Managed relationships with existing clients and across banking syndicates and developed new prospects, a potential acquirer of the Amsterdam cable network and a regional cable operator in France.
- Presented and successfully defended $10 to $100 million infrastructure financing proposals at the credit committee level.
Education
Master's Degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Delft University of Technology - Delft, The Netherlands
Certifications
Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA)
CFA Institute
Skills
Finance
Corporate Finance, Asset Valuation, FP&A, Project Finance Consulting, M&A, Seed Fundraising, Financial Modeling, Special Assets, Forecasting, Cash Flow, Cash Flow Modeling, Capital Raising, Cash Flow Forecasting, Valuations, DCF Valuation, Discounted Cash Flow (DCF), Financial Benchmarking, Price Analysis, Three-statement Modeling, Residual Cash Flows, Projected Cash Flow, Total Addressable Market (TAM), Due Diligence, M&A (Buy-side), M&A, M&A Modeling, Market Research Analyst, Revenue & Expense Projections, Fundraising, Valuations, Valuation Modeling, Financial Advisory, Investment Return Scenario Analysis, Private Equity Valuation, M&A (Sell-side), Chartered Financial Analysis, ROI, Equity Valuation, Risk Analysis, Public Tender, P&L Forecasting, Balance Sheets, Cost of Capital, Weighted Average Cost of Capital (WACC), Cost Benchmarking, Financial Reporting, Series A, Profit & Loss (P&L), Budgeting Consulting, RiskMetrics, Private Equity, Growth Capital Raising, Data Analysis, Investment Memoranda, Pricing, Leveraged Buyout Modeling, Growth Equity, Profitability Analysis, Equity Research, Portfolio Analysis, Accounting, UK GAAP, Forex Traders, Controller, Asset Allocation, Exchange-traded Funds (ETF), REITs
Output Software
Excel Development, Microsoft PowerPoint
Industry Expertise
Public Companies, Telecommunications, High-tech Startups, Venture Capital, Energy
Geographic Expertise
United Kingdom, Middle East, Asia, Asia-Pacific (APAC), United States, Latin America (LATAM), Hong Kong
Other
Market Research & Analysis, Tender, Market Entry, Entry Strategy, Business Planning, Negotiation, Policy, Public Policy, Market Sizing, Sensitivity Analysis, Scenario Analysis, Cash Flow Analysis, Return on Invested Capital (ROIC), Revenue Analysis, Benchmarking, Excel VBA, P&L Analysis, DCF Modeling, Discounted Cash Flow Analysis, Advocacy, Financial Analysis, Due Diligence, Mobile App Design, Business Modeling, Management Consultants, Management Consultants, Presentation Design, Business Plan Consulting, Modeling, Financial Forecasting, Excel, Investment Analysis, Excel 365, Financing, Pitch Deck Consulting, Infrastructure, Financials, Spreadsheets, Monte Carlo Simulations, Investment Committee Advisory, M&A Valuation (DCF), M&A Due Diligence (Financial), Business Strategy, IRR, Finance, Buyouts, Profit Improvement, Decision Support, Decision Analysis, Debt Financing, M&A Strategy, MVNO, Investment Capital Raising, Statistical Modeling, Analysis, Creative Problem Solving, Economics, Data Science, Python, Business Development, Startup Development, Design Strategy, Small Caps, Regulatory Affairs, Market Sector, Digital Economy, Game Theory, Simulations, Simulations & Wargames, Contract Negotiation, Demand Sizing & Segmentation, Regulatory Analysis, Regulated Industries, Transaction Comparables, Term Sheet Advisory, Term Sheets, Term Sheet Negotiations, Real Options Reasoning, Market Studies, Competitor Analysis & Profiling, SaaS, Financial Statements, Presentations, Board Presentations, Financial Strategy, Enterprise SaaS, Deal Structuring, Small & Medium-sized Enterprises (SME), Marketplace Design, B2B Design, Platforms, Python, Futures & Options, Value at Risk, Early-stage Venture Capital, Investor Reporting, Business to Government (B2G), Direct to Consumer (D2C), Subscriptions, Leveraged Buyout (LBO), Utility Tokens, US GAAP Accounting, Investments, Fundraising, Structured Finance, Information Memoranda, Investor Presentations, Forex Analysis, Fundraising Strategy, Portfolio Templates, Investment Banking, Platform as a Service (PaaS), Marketplace Platforms, Media, Client Presentations, Private Equity, Early-stage Funding, Performance Analysis, Machine Learning, Equities, Fixed Income, Derivatives Consulting, Alternative Investments, Behavioral Finance, Ethics, Relationship Management, Leadership, Product Development, Intellectual Property, Innovation Management, R&D, Business to Business (B2B), Business to Consumer (B2C), Corporate Governance, Price Positioning, Artificial Intelligence, Freelance Programming, Entrepreneurship, Web Entrepreneurship, Market Research Analyst, Econometrics, Economic Analysis, Forex, Industry 4.0, Operating Models, Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), SaaS, Clean Energy, Petrochemicals, E-commerce marketing, Logistics & Supply Chain, Consolidation, Asset Tokenization, Climate Change, Climate Risk Mitigation, Real Estate Investment, Manufacturing, Advertising Management, Marketing Design
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