EY-Parthenon adds three ex-PwC partners to Australian practice
EY-Parthenon has added Lucien Laverdure to its Australian partnership, his arrival following that of fellow ex-PwC partners Scott Wilson and Danny Bessell.
A specialist in ‘tangible asset’ valuations, Laverdure joins EY-Parthenon as a partner out of Melbourne after spending the past decade at PwC, following in the footsteps of Danny Bessell (energy transition) and Scott Wilson (strategy & transactions).
The latest trio follow earlier PwC partnership recruits Chris McLean, Belinda Cogswell and David Fair, with Ernst & Young having rejigged its global strategy arm earlier this year to include the firm’s strategy & transactions team, creating a 25,000-strong practice.
Lucien Laverdure
A double-degree holder in commerce and mechanical engineering from the University of Melbourne, Laverdure spent the early part of his career as an engineering consultant and then inspection services leader with DNV focused on wind farms, before joining PwC in 2016 and being promoted to financial advisory partner at the start of 2023.
While at PwC, Laverdure specialised in tangible asset valuations and strategic advice across sectors such as infrastructure, energy & resources, transport, manufacturing, health, and technology, such as to property, plant and equipment valuations, asset management strategy, due diligence, information data, and capital renewal optimisation.
Welcomed to EY-Parthenon by global vice chair Andrea Guerzoni, Laverdure was described as supporting both public and private sector clients with grounded, strategic advice to improve performance, optimise investments, and enhance return on infrastructure and physical assets, tailored towards achieving long-term value.
Scott Wilson
Also joining in recent months after a decade at PwC is Scott Wilson, who is now a member of EY-Parthenon’s strategy & transactions partnership out of Brisbane. Prior to joining PwC in 2015 and becoming a partner in 2021, Wilson also spent four years as a corporate finance associate director at KPMG, with earlier stints at the Queensland Treasury Corporation and BDO.
A commerce and economics graduate of the University of Queensland, Wilson specialises in corporate valuations, advising clients including those in the infrastructure and energy sectors in areas such as portfolio optimisation, pricing strategy, cost-benefit analysis on structuring, and the monetisation of intellectual property, new ventures, and other initiatives.
Danny Bessell
Meanwhile, Danny Bessell has followed Mclean, Cogswell, and Fair to EY’s so-called ‘Energy Lead Advisory’ practice, which has also recently welcomed Martin Ivanovski as an associate partner from PwC and supports energy sector clients on their net-zero transitions with a focus on strategic M&A and divestments, financing, and portfolio restructuring.
Bringing commercial and project leadership expertise in the infrastructure, utilities and transport sectors, Bessell has worked on more more than 75 deals across his three-decade finance and advisory career, which, prior to joining PwC’s energy transition partnership in 2022, includes senior leadership roles at Rothschild, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and UBS.
