Introduction

Meridian Corporate Finance Ltd (MCF) are committed to ensuring that your privacy is protected. This Privacy Policy explains how we use the personal information that we collect and process as a business and outlines the procedures which are in place to safeguard your privacy. It also explains how you can update or change how your data is used to reflect your preferred relationship with us.

If we ask you to provide any information by which you can be identified either when visiting our website or engaging in a relationship with us, you can be assured that it will only be used in accordance with this privacy statement. 

We are a data controller in respect of the data that we hold about you, and we manage all our personal data whether client data, data on targets, data relating to our professional contacts, employee data and any other personal data in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR). 

What types of data do we collect and hold?

The personal data that we hold about you will be specific to you and your relationship with us at MCF and may include some of the following types of data and other data relevant to the transaction:

a) Personal identifiers: such as your name, gender, title, and date of birth;

b) Contact information: such as your work address, work email, work telephone number; we do not ask for a home contact address, but you may provide this to us or this data may be obtained as part of our due diligence into your business;

c) Business details: such as your company name, job title and specialism; 

d) Your business financials including details of shareholders, copies of business accounts, financial forecasts and business plans;

e) Information to assist us to verify your identity including anti-money laundering documentation which may include a certified copy of your passport or driving licence and copies of recent utility bills; and

f) Information about your visits to our website, and any engagement with our online information services.

In order to provide our services, we will collect and process personal data relating to third parties who are engaged in transactions that involve our clients (including other shareholders; professionals; or individuals in a target business).

How do we collect this personal data?

We collect most of our information directly from you, as this enables you to have as much control over the data you share with us. We do this when you contact us directly or through our website, when you subscribe to any of our information services or when you interact with us through social media; or email or call us.

We use information to manage our anti-money laundering obligations or other regulatory requirements.

We also collect information that is publicly available such as information on any company website, news articles, or other multimedia sources as well as any records held on Companies House website. 

If you have a business relationship with one of our professional contacts, they may collect data which is passed on to us to facilitate a specific transaction or make an introduction in our mutual interest. 

For our professional business contacts, we also collect data from any networking events you may attend; from any of our employee business contacts, from current or past transactions and from any publicly available source such as a company website. 

Where we need to research prospective buyers, we subscribe to business research databases such as Megabuyte to aid a transaction. 

What do we use your personal data for?

Our primary use of your data is to be able to deliver our services to you and complete your business transactions. Where we have a contract with you, it is necessary for us to process personal data in order to deliver that contract to you. 

If you are a professional contact with whom we have a business relationship, we will use your data to enable us to liaise with you on current or future transactions. 

We also use personal data for our legitimate business interests in monitoring, developing and promoting our products and services. For example, using the data for our e-marketing campaigns, managing invitations, introducing potential transaction opportunities, and registrations for corporate events, publicising our services; supporting quality and risk management reviews; and administrating our website and reviewing the efficacy of our online services and communications. 

We may also need to process your data in order for compliance and auditing reasons and to monitor or enforce our terms and conditions or user policies.

Communicating with you: we also use your data to communicate with you and keep you up to date with company news; informing you of completed transactions and providing you with information on our services. We will also provide information about events we are hosting. We may contact you by email, post or via the telephone. We encourage you to sign up to receive these messages but if you do not wish to receive these communications, please let us know by contacting us at info@meridiancf.com

We may also use information to support us in enforcing our terms and conditions, protecting our legal rights and responsibilities.

Sharing personal data with third parties.

We will only share our client personal data with those other parties involved in the specific transaction – which may include other professionals working on the transaction, the other party and their advisers, whether within the data room or in the usual course of a transaction. We will discuss with you how to manage communication within your business, to ensure that disclosure is appropriately managed.

Where we are facilitating introductions with other professionals or organisations, we will seek your permission to share contact details, or arrange a meeting in person. 

We may disclose information where necessary to undertake client identification checks, or other regulatory obligations.

Occasionally, we share your data with our third-party suppliers who manage our website and e-marketing, IT and other outsourced services. All our third-party suppliers are based in the UK or Europe and therefore they will be obliged by law to have the same level of protection of your personal data as we do.

How we protect your information

We are committed to ensuring that your personal information is secure. In order to prevent unauthorised access or disclosure, we have put in place suitable physical, electronic and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure the information we collect online. For example, your personal information is stored on secure cloud-based computer files or computer servers within our secure premises; any hard copy client files are kept within our secure premises; and our staff are trained about the secure handling of personal information.

Your rights under the Data Protection laws

As an individual you have several rights under the relevant data protection laws, including:

a) the right to request from us access to your own personal information;

b) the right to ask us not to process your personal data for personalised direct marketing;

c) the right to request any inaccurate information we hold about you is corrected;

d) the right to request your information is deleted in certain circumstances;

e) a right to request that we stop using your personal information for certain purposes; and

f) a request to request that decisions are not taken by wholly automated means.

Please see the ICO website for further information on the above rights: https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-the-general-data-protection-regulation-gdpr/individual-rights/

These rights may be limited to certain defined circumstances and we may not be able to comply with your request. If you request to exercise these rights, we aim to respond to you within one month. 

If you wish to receive a copy of your personal data or exercise these rights, please email us at info@meridiancf.com or write to us at the address below.

Whilst we will always strive for excellent service and to manage your expectations, if you feel your data has not been handled correctly or if you have any concerns or complaints about our data handling, please contact us at info@meridiancf.com and we will try to resolve any issues. You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office, which is the statutory regulator for data protection law. Details of how to complain to the ICO can be found at https://ico.org.uk/concerns/.

How long we keep your personal data for

We will hold your personal information on our systems for as long as it is necessary for the purpose for which it was collected. Personal data held on client files is stored for the period of any transaction to which it relates and for 7 years post transaction.

Client contact details are stored until you tell us to remove them from our records. 

Any information relating to professional contacts will be retained whilst you are actively working with us on current deals or if we could foreseeably work on future deals together. Contact details will be removed from our records on your request.

Changes to our privacy notice

Any changes we may make to our privacy notice in the future will be posted on this page. Please check back frequently to see any updates or changes to our privacy notice.

This policy is effective from 23 May 2018.

Third party websites

Our website may contain links to other websites of interest. However, once you have used these links to leave our site, you should note that we do not have any control over that other website. Therefore, we cannot be responsible for the protection and privacy of any information which you provide whilst visiting such sites and such sites are not governed by this privacy statement. You should exercise caution and look at the privacy statement applicable to the website in question.

Cookies

A cookie is a small piece of data or message that is sent from a web server to your browser and is stored on your hard drive. A cookie can't read data off your hard disk or read cookie files created by other sites. Cookies do not damage your system. You can reset your browser to refuse any cookie or to alert you to when a cookie is being sent. MCF only uses cookies to track use of the service. However, if you choose not to accept cookies the service will work as effectively for you.

Contacting us

If there is anything in this notice that you are unclear about, please contact us at info@meridiancf.com or by writing to us at the address below and we shall be happy to answer any queries you may have concerning this privacy notice or the way in which we process your personal data.

By mail: Meridian Corporate Finance Ltd, Manor Farm Offices, Flexford Road, North Baddesley, Southampton, Hampshire, SO52 9DF