Bio

Ven Balakrishnan is a managing director in the Transaction Advisory Services practice and global leader of the Strategy and Commercial Diligence offering, based in the London office. He has more than 25 years of experience, including 15 years as managing director/partner, providing strategic and financial advice to clients at the board level. Prior to Duff & Phelps, Ven was the lead partner of the Strategy Group at Grant Thornton where he was focused on advising dynamic, fast growing companies and mid-market private equity investors. At Grant Thornton, Ven led diligence on transactions with deal values ranging from EUR 50-800 million. Before that, Ven was a partner in EY’s Commercial Advisory (Transaction Advisory Services) group. Ven established and co-led this team focused on large private equity firms and corporates. In this role, Ven led commercial due diligence engagements across a variety of sectors and transaction sizes on the buy- and sell-side, as well as in restructuring/financial distress situations. Ven’s sector experience has covered data and media, software and technology, travel and leisure, business services and manufacturing. He also has advised on deals in the consumer goods, retail, healthcare and financial services sectors. Ven’s breadth of strategy and sector experience enables him to apply pattern recognition to problem solving and to challenge conventional sector thinking. From 2010-2018, Ven served in various governance roles at University College London, most recently serving as a trustee and member of the Governing Council. Ven received a 1st (Hons) BSc in medical sciences and a post-graduate diploma in economics from University College London. He is a member of the Association of Corporate Treasurers and a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.