Our People
Charles joined Rock in July 2024. He is a chartered accountant with a background of 23 years advising on infrastructure transactions.
Charles is responsible for all financial aspects of the Rock Group, including financial strategy, group and project reporting, risk management, investor support, treasury and HR.
He sits on the Management Board and the Investment Committee.
Prior to joining Rock, Charles was a Corporate Finance partner at PwC focused on the infrastructure sector. He brings experience of project finance, M&A, capital raising and regulatory and government advice. He was the UK Transport and Logistics leader and a government relationship partner. He has worked across transport, energy transition, telecoms and social infrastructure. He has secured over £14bn of equity and debt finance for complex infrastructure transactions. He was a member of the Corporate Finance Exco responsible for People.
Notable transactions
Rail
- Rock Rail Main Weser – Charles advised Rock Rail and abrdn, on their first deal in Germany (and their first outside of the UK) which raised EUR270m of institutional debt and equity for 88 new trains. Charles led the cross border PwC UK and German advisory team
- Translink / Irish Rail – Charles advised on the business case for a new rolling stock fleet of 8 trains between Bellfast and Dublin. The case unlocked £141m of investment and will significantly increase journey times between Belfast and Dublin
- Transport For London Charles advised Transport for London on different financing options for various train fleets and depots. This included different structuring options, pricing and value for money analysis and deliverability
- Thameslink – Charles advised the UK Department for Transport on the £1.7bn refinancing of the Thameslink fleet which achieved financial close in December 2021
- Network Rail – Charles advised on the development of the business case for the deployment of the Digital Railway Programme including ERTMS and traffic management. Routes include the East Coast Mainline and South Eastern
- Department for Transport – Charles advised on the passenger franchising programme from 2013 – 2022. This included advising on multiple concession arrangements over a 10 year period. He lead competitive processes and bi- lateral negotiations
- High Speed 2 – Charles advised High Speed 2 on their commercial and financial strategy for the procurement of £5bn of new high speed rolling stock
- Network Rail – Charles advised Network Rail on the potential sale of 111 light maintenance depots
- DG Move (EU Transport agency) – Charles advised the Commission’s Transport Secretariate on developing innovative financing proposals to support the rollout of ERTMS track and train signalling on key rail corridors in Europe
- Stadler – Charles advised Stadler on their winning bid for the Nexus contract and for the Merseytravel rail concession
- Department for Transport – Charles advised the UK Department for Transport on this £2.2bn Intercity Express rolling stock PPP refinancing
- Cellnex / Neos – Charles advised Cellnex and Neos Networks on their £1bn bid to commercialise the fibre and tower estate for Network Rail
- Romanian Government – Charles advised the Romanian Government on the financing of a new metro line across the city
- NSW RailCorp PPP – Charles advised the NSW Government on the $3.6bn (£1.5bn) Rolling Stock PPP, the largest Australian PPP at that time
- Crossrail rolling stock – Charles advised Crossrail, a joint venture between the Department for Transport and Transport for London, on the procurement of approximately 630 new cars for the Elizabeth Line
- Department for Transport – Charles advised the Department for Transport on procurement and financing of the Intercity Express Programme, financed in two tranches, including ECA finance from JBIC and Nexi.
- Department for Transport – Charles advised the Department for Transport on the replacement of the suburban north/south London rolling stock consisting of up to 1,140 new carriages with a capital cost of £1.6bn.
Transport
- Listed Transport Operator – Charles advised this operator on developing its future smart mobility strategy
- Department for Transport – Charles provided commercial advice on the funding of energy grid connections to support the roll of out of high-powered rapid chargers in motorway service stations
- Department for Transport Covid – Charles advised on the development of an industry wide financial support mechanism for the ferry operators and Eurotunnel in response to the CV-19 crisis
- Lockheed Martin and VT Group – Charles advised the bid for this Search and Rescue Helicopters “Blue Light Service” PPP
- Destia and YIT – Charles advised on their bids for the E18 Road PPP which raised c. €330m of debt and equity