WOMEN are playing a more prominent role in the professional community, but when it comes to doing the deals, the female corporate financier is still a rare breed. Sheryl Moore reports.

WITH its reputation for working and playing hard, the world of corporate finance has largely been dominated by men.

It is also not a job for the faint-hearted. You've got to be a tough negotiator, ooze confidence, be an arch networker and have nerves of steel to handle transactions worth up to hundreds of millions of pounds.

To succeed in corporate finance you've got to be tough. But if you're a woman, do you have to be even tougher than your male counterparts?

In recent years several well respected female players have emerged in the corporate finance arena, and the legal sector boasts a number of high-profile corporate finance partners.

However, scratch the surface at the accountants, private equity firms and even the corporate banking departments, and women in senior positions are very thin on the ground.

At Ford Campbell Corporate Finance, director Nathalie Blake has her sights set on a partnership. Nathalie, who trained at PwC and qualified in 2000, joined Ford Campbell Corporate Finance the same year.

In 2005, she was promoted to deal leader and has since been the lead adviser on more than 15 transactions.

Nathalie says that, as soon as she qualified, she couldn't wait to move into corporate finance.

She says: "Corporate finance is about getting to the very heart of a company and working closely with the management team, advising on strategies for the business as well as identifying personal objectives.

"It is a very social profession, and you need to be able to mix with people from every walk of life and take all situations in your stride."

Nathalie says that women corporate financiers bring a number of skills to the table, and being female in a male dominated world has its advantages. She says: "If people think you're good fun, hardworking and give sound advice, they certainly remember you, and as a female you get invited to a lot more events, which is great for networking and building up contacts."

Elaine O'Donnell is a corporate finance partner at Ernst & Young - possibly the only female corporate partner at a firm of accountants in the city who is a lead adviser on deals.

Elaine, who trained at PwC and joined Ernst & Young in 1997, was made a partner three years ago. She has advised on deals worth more than £100m and recently completed the £74m acquisition of travel group ATP.

She is also a mother of two who works a four-day week. She says: "If a deal is nearing completion, then I obviously work Fridays. Also I'm always avail-able on the phone. It is a balancing act, but I've found clients very accepting of the situation."

Elaine says that, unlike in law firms, where trainees have experience of many disciplines, young accountants are not introduced to corporate finance at an early stage of their career.

"That said, there are a number of extremely talented individuals rising through the ranks," says Elaine. "Half of my team is now women, and I think there will be more female corporate finance partners on the scene in the near future."

Catherine Richards is an investment director at private equity house, Inflexion.

A qualified accountant, Catherine's goal was always to work in private equity. While, along with Elaine and Nathalie, she says that her gender has never been an issue, she concedes that it can be very hard and demanding work.

Catherine, who has no children, admits that corporate finance is not the most child-friendly of jobs.

She says: "Should I choose to have children in the future, then there would have to be some adjustment. I'm not saying that I couldn't be an investment director in private equity, but dropping everything to catch a flight to London at 7pm would certainly be more difficult than it is now."

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