Charles Ainslie
Associate Director
A versatile and experienced corporate finance professional and Chartered Accountant, Charles leads the team at Initium for business owners exploring the benefits of selling their businesses to an Employee Ownership Trust (EOT). With a background in M&A at organisations including Ernst & Young and BDO – where he was involved in a range of successful multi-sector buy-side and sell-side transactions – his expertise also covers complementary disciplines including fractional CFO work and social impact investment.
Charles feels a close affinity with business owners, being an entrepreneur himself. He has co-founded two organisations: www.thelearningtrust.org, one of South Africa’s most celebrated incubation and capacity development conduit funds, and www.thetrustconnection.co.za, a growing change mindset coaching organisation.
Selected transactions
- The Wonderful Agency Becomes Employee Owned
- Cerberus Group acquires the retail technology division of Alphameric
- Sale of the BBC’s Outside Broadcast business to Satellite Information Services Ltd
- Acquisition of a stake in Billington Cartmell by Hutton Collins
- Advising Inflexion Private Equity on its MBO of Aspen Pumps