The people in the independent firms of Grant Thornton International Ltd provide personalized attention and the highest quality service to public and private clients in more than 100 countries. Grant Thornton LLP is the U.S. member firm of Grant Thornton International Ltd, one of the six global audit, tax and advisory organizations. Grant Thornton International Ltd and its member firms are not a worldwide partnership, as each member firm is a separate and distinct legal entity.
Philip Keevil is a Senior Partner working from Compass Advisers' offices in both New York and London, with over 30 years of investment banking experience. Prior to joining Compass in December 2005, Mr. Keevil was a Managing Director of Citigroup Global Markets, serving as Chairman of Citigroup's European Equity and Fixed Income Commitment Committees and advising such European corporations as ABB, BG, Holcim, Merck KGaA, Renault, Roche, Syngenta and Volkswagen AG. Additional clients served during his career include BP, British Telecom, Colgate Palmolive, Diageo, Exxon, Ford, General Motors, Henkel, ICI, Marks & Spencer, Merck & Co. Inc., Pfizer, J Sainsbury, Shell, Texaco and Unilever. Mr. Keevil joined Citigroup's Salomon Brothers in 1995, initially as a Managing Director and Head of International Mergers and Acquisitions and, ultimately, serving as the Head of European M&A, based in London, a position he held through the merger to form Citigroup and the combination with Schroders. Prior to Citi, he was responsible for S.G. Warburg's corporate finance and equity capital markets businesses in North America. Before joining S.G. Warburg in 1987, Mr. Keevil was a General Partner in Lazard Frères & Co. in New York and co-head of its International Department. He began his investment banking career at Morgan Stanley in New York in 1975, after receiving his M.B.A. degree. Prior to his graduate studies, Mr. Keevil worked for Unilever in England for five years as a member of its Management Development Scheme.
Mr. Keevil is Chairman of The Risk Advisory Group (TRAG), a leading EMEA-based business intelligence firm. He is also a Director of BritishAmerican Business Inc., a member of the Business Advisory Forum of Oxford's Saïd Business School, and a member of the Advisory Council of the London Symphony Orchestra. In addition, Mr. Keevil is a Freeman of the City of London, a liveryman of the International Bankers' Company, a Past Master of the Poulters' Company, and a Governor of the City of London School for Girls. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. Mr. Keevil is a regular commentator from Europe on M&A on Bloomberg, CNBC and occasionally CNN. For the past several years, Mr. Keevil has taught a seminar on M&A at Georgetown University Business School's summer session at Oxford University. A holder of dual British and American citizenships, Mr. Keevil received B.A. and M.A. degrees in philosophy, politics and economics from Oxford University and an M.B.A. degree from Harvard University with High Distinction as a Baker Scholar.
William J. McGrath has been a lawyer in McDermott’s Corporate Department since 1970 and currently resides in Shanghai serving as practice coordinator between MWE China Law Offices (the Firm’s strategic alliance partner in Shanghai) and the Firm’s worldwide offices. He also provides strategy, marketing and administrative support for MWE China Law Offices.
Bill McGrath is a partner in the law firm of McDermott Will & Emery LLP based in the Firm’s Chicago office. As a member of the Firm’s Corporate Department, he focuses his practice on business strategy and execution, strategic combinations and alliances, leveraged buyouts, joint ventures, finance, investment management activities and alternative investment products. From mid-2000 through the end of 2007, he was a Managing Director of Glencoe Capital Partners III L.P., a $400 million buyout fund making lead sponsored investments. He also served as Vice Chairman and a member of the Investment Committees of Glencoe Capital, LLC, a mid-market private equity sponsor, and its affiliate, Stockwell Capital, LLC, a manager of private equity co-investment capital, which together invested over $1.0 billion of committed capital in approximately 40 transactions on behalf of pension and endowment funds, insurance companies, banks and other institutional investors during this period.
Other businesses represented by Bill on a regular basis have included publicly and privately owned companies, many of which having significant family or foreign ownership, located in the United States, Europe and Asia. His management responsibilities for the Firm have included service for many years on the Firm’s Management Committee and its Executive Committee, specifically during the period of the Firm’s rapid growth into a full-service international firm. During this period, he also chaired the Firm’s first Strategic Planning Committee and its Lateral Recruiting Committee, focusing in particular on the Firm’s expansion in Western Europe and development of its intellectual property, capital markets and private equity practices. He has also served on many of the Firm’s administrative committees, chairing several of them.
He is currently a director of Böwe Bell + Howell Company (a subsidiary of Böwe Systec, AG, a German manufacturer of automated mail and document handling systems). Bill has previously served on the boards of directors of Doane Agricultural Services Company, Hobart-McIntosh Paper Company, Rimrock Corporation, Soft Sheen Products, Inc. and Tomy Corporation (a Japanese-owned manufacturer and distributor of toys, games and software products). He is a member of the U.S.-China Chamber of Commerce, a trustee of the Union League Boys and Girls Foundation, a member of the Advisory Board of Catholic Charities of Chicago and a member of the Board of Directors for the Center for Economic Policy and Analysis. He is also a member of the International and American Bar Associations.
Education Harvard Law School, J.D., 1970 Loyola University Chicago, M.A., 1967 John Carroll University, AB.cl. (magna cum laude), 1965
DealMakers Breakfast A Dialogue on Private Equity Investing in China Seaport Hotel | Seaport Ballroom March 19, 2009 7:00am - 9:30am sponsored by: