Lucia Gallo Garcia from the University of Bristol has joined corporate finance advisory firm Shaw & Co as part of the company’s first student placement programme.

Lucia, who hails from Burgos in Northern Spain, has a full-time paid placement that is running for four weeks until Friday 22 July. She will return in the autumn to complete a 10-week part-time placement and offer valuable feedback on both experiences.

A second year Engineering Mathematics student, Lucia will learn about all aspects of corporate finance including how to buy, sell and fund the growth of a business. She will also learn about a range of specific topics including data analytics, marketing, events and client engagement.

The Bristol-based firm, which was founded by Jim Shaw in 2011, has one of the largest advisory teams in the South West, specialising in a range of services from developing acquisition and exit strategies, business valuations and funding readiness advice, to trade sales, mergers, management buy-outs, and securing finance for growth projects, acquisitions and MBOs.

The company has led a number of notable deals including the sale of Pukka Herbs to Unilever, the purchase of VoucherCloud from Vodafone and its subsequent sale to Groupon, and the sale of GoProposal to Sage.

Paul Mills, Chief Marketing Officer, said: “Our pilot programme has been co-developed with the University’s Banking and Investment Society. Part of our mission is to make corporate finance more accessible, especially to women, who are sadly underrepresented in this industry. We want to offer students of all backgrounds the opportunity to build valuable experience in an award-winning corporate finance organisation. Lucia will help us refine the placement experience before we officially launch in 2023.”

Lucia Gallo added: “This is a great opportunity for me to gain an understanding of the complexities of corporate finance with the one of the most innovative companies in the region. The placement will offer me a firm grounding in a range of skills that will provide a solid foundation for my future career. Everyone on the team is already making a big effort to make sure I feel involved and I am looking forward to learning more from the Shaw & CO team in the weeks ahead!”