Ian Middleton joined Merlin from Scott Harris, the investor relations consultancy, where he advised on a range of high profile M&A and fund raising transactions including Prudential’s bid for AIA, Lloyds Banking Group’s £13.5bn rights issue, Venture Production’s bid defence from Centrica, and BHP Billiton’s bid for Rio Tinto. Other clients have included BG Group, Cambrian Mining, Cobham, Drax Group, Royal Dutch Shell, and Xtract Energy.

Prior to moving into communications consultancy, Ian worked in corporate broking at HSBC Investment Bank and spent 11 years in the British Army. He was awarded an MBE for his work in advising Iraqi provincial government agencies prior to the successful national elections in 2005. He is a member of the Investor Relations Society, has a BA in Economics & Public Administration from the University of London and is reading for a Master of Science in International Security from Cranfield University, specialising in Energy Security.