MHP Communications has strengthened its capital markets team with the appointment of two new senior hires.

Newly appointed director James Midmer joins from Flutter plc, the FTSE 100 international sports betting company, where he was head of communications, running the group’s corporate and internal communications. Previously, he was head of corporate communications at Betfair, having started his career at Tavistock.

Midmer will advise clients on their financial and strategic communications, leveraging his experience in investor relations, public affairs, internal communications and corporate social responsibility.

James Bavister, now associate director, joins from the corporate finance team of city broker Peel Hunt, where he has led on running transactions and managing client relationships. Prior to that, he spent six years at WH Ireland, the wealth management and corporate broking company.

As well as advising clients on all aspects of their financial communications, Bavister will enhance MHP’s environmental, social and governance offer which is an increasing area of focus for clients.

The new hires reflect the strong growth in the capital markets team under the leadership of Oliver Hughes who took over the running of the practice in March 2018.

In the last two years, the team has won new clients including the FTSE 100 energy group SSE, the Restaurant Group, Speedy Hire and Costain, become one of the leading advisers for UK IPOs and advised on high profile financial restructurings including Arcadia and Four Seasons Health Care.

MHP has also entered the top five UK PR agencies by number of M&A deals, recently advising Cobham on their £4bn takeover by Advent.

Commenting on the appointments, Oliver Hughes, head of capital markets at MHP, says, “James Midmer and James Bavister are first class operators and I’m delighted to welcome them into the team. They bring a wealth of experience in many of the issues that are top of today’s boardroom agenda including stakeholder engagement and ESG. It’s testament to our clear momentum and increasingly strong reputation in the market that we continue to attract such talent.”