Pitch Best Young M&A Advisor 2022: Emma van der Stoop, IRIS Corporate Finance

Company: IRIS Corporate Finance 
Job Description: Senior Consultant 
Age: 27 

What are the specialties of this talent? 
In 2018, Emma started her career at IRIS CF as an intern. Before Emma IRIS CF didn’t hire interns, but Emma displayed herself as a very smart, mature and independent candidate and to this day we’re very glad that we’d made an exception. Emma distinguishes herself as being an autonomous and entrepreneurial thinker who makes an effort to keep on developing herself to be an even more all-round advisor. The combination of excellent communication skills combined with her problem-solving ability makes Emma a highly skilled consultant who is pleasant to work with for her clients, colleagues as well as all other stakeholders. 

How does the talent distinguish itself from its peers? 
Authenticity can be difficult to maintain in our sector. Not only does Emma maintain her authenticity, but she does this in a M&A (men’s dominated) world. 

What impact does the talent have within the organization?  
Emma is always focused on quality. Not only does she has an eye for the quality of the organization, but also acts upon it. An example is the implementation of a mobility card for employees. Not only gives this mobility card full flexibility for our employees, but it also contributes to the environment.  

Another characteristic that is widely supported by her colleagues is her helpfulness. Emma is always willing to help others when needed, even when it means that she has to do unpopular tasks. 

What impact does the talent have outside the organization?  
In a short period of time Emma had sourced a large and diverse network, not only for herself, but also for IRIS CF. She’s a well-known sparring partner for Solid Sense and many other flexible staffing entrepreneurs as well as a great teaching sparring partner for students who consider a career in corporate finance. 

To what extent does the talent make the difference to clients?  
Selling your company can be an emotional and difficult process for entrepreneurs. Working as a M&A consultant with entrepreneurs can be challenging from an emotional point of view. It is always a balancing act to combine emotions with delivering clear results and find solutions. Emma has a gift to communicate in a clear and empathetic way and at the same time being selective, strong and straightforward to negotiating counterparties. Clients perceive Emma as being a consultant that always had the clients best interest at heart, always looks for solutions and consensus with full respect for everyone around the table.. 

Why does the talent deserve this nomination? 
We can’t think of any reason why Emma doesn’t deserve to be nominated for Best Young Talent. For her age she has already built up an impressive trackrecord of successful deals, in which she acted as lead advisor in many cases. Transactions that Emma played a crucial role in YTD are: 

https://www.iriscf.nl/transactions/iris-cf-adviseert-tumotus-en-tumotus-icb-bij-de-verkoop-aan-ramboll-group/  
https://www.iriscf.nl/transactions/iris-cf-adviseert-solid-sense-bij-de-verkoop-aan-equilar-groep/  
https://www.iriscf.nl/transactions/iris-cf-adviseert-harvey-nash-bij-de-overname-van-het-flexhuis/  
https://www.iriscf.nl/transactions/iris-cf-adviseert-js-laadtechniek-bij-verkoop-aan-tip-trailer-services/  
https://www.iriscf.nl/transactions/touch-jibe/ https://www.iriscf.nl/transactions/reco-autoschade/ 

Any references or recommendations from clients or (colleagues)? 
Frank van den Bichelaer, oprichter en directeur Solid Sense over Emma:  

“Via Duncan in contact gekomen met Emma van der Stoop en Rob de Laat. Eind september 2020 kennis gemaakt met Iris Corporate Finance, om met hen door te nemen wat mijn mogelijkheden waren m.b.t een eventuele verkoop van Solid Sense. 

Meteen in het eerste gesprek had ik al een klik met Emma. Emma is een zeer deskundige, fijne, goede, rustige en geduldige gesprekspartner. Altijd bereikbaar en maakt echt de beste financiële analyses.  

Gedurende het proces kreeg ik steeds meer advies van Emma en kon zij voor mij de beste berekeningen maken. Ook heeft ze ervoor gezorgd dat er een goede genormaliseerde EBITDA ontstond waardoor mijn bedrijf natuurlijk meer waard werd.  

Wat ik enorm waardeerde is dat zij altijd rustig bleef in voor mij stressvolle periodes van onderhandelingen en beslissingen. Door haar rust ontstond er voor mij weer rust en vertrouwen.  

Ik kan echt iedereen Emma aanraden!"