Aurelius was not founded to grow. It was founded to do a particular kind of work, for a particular kind of client, at a standard the institutions had quietly abandoned.
By 2003, James Aurelius had spent two decades inside the largest names in advisory and had come to an uncomfortable conclusion: that the best work, the patient, honest, conflict-free counsel a client actually needed, rarely survived the institutional model. Scale demanded volume. Volume demanded compromise. And the compromise was always paid for by the client.
So he left, and built a firm around the one thing the institutions could not offer: the refusal to do more than could be done well. Aurelius would take a small number of mandates each year. It would carry no competing interests, sell no products, and answer to no one but the client in front of it. Two decades on, that refusal is still the entire business.
No competing mandates, no institutional interests, no product to sell. The only thing we have to protect is our judgment, so we protect it absolutely.
Most of what we are proudest of will never be written about. Confidentiality is not a courtesy we extend; for our clients, it is the product itself.
We are paid to tell you what we actually think, including, and especially, the things that are difficult to hear. That is the whole of the value.
We take only the work we can do exceptionally. We decline more mandates than we accept, and we consider that the most important decision we make.
Founding Partner
Thirty years in private advisory. Previously Goldman Sachs M&A Europe and Lazard, where he led transactions across industrials, media, and family-controlled enterprises. Founded Aurelius in 2003 after concluding that the best advisory work rarely survived the institutional model. Specialist in family-owned business transitions, succession-adjacent exits, and cross-border European M&A. Read Modern History at Magdalen College, Oxford.
Managing Partner
Twenty-two years advising private equity and institutional investors across real assets, industrials, and professional services. Joined Aurelius from Rothschild & Co, where she spent fifteen years across the London and Paris offices advising on more than £18bn in completed transactions. Fluent in French and German. Known for the quality of her situation analysis before a mandate is ever accepted. MA Economics, Newnham College, Cambridge.
Senior Partner
Specialist in strategic restructuring and special situations. Seventeen years across distressed assets, creditor negotiations, and board-level stabilisations in the UK, Germany, and the Gulf. Previously advised the creditor committees of three major restructurings across FTSE-listed businesses. Approaches complexity with a single conviction: it is rarely as permanent as it appears. LLB, London School of Economics.
Headquarters
Mayfair, W1. The firm's home since 2003 and the base for the majority of our European and cross-border mandates.
Capital & Family Offices
Bahnhofstrasse. Our point of contact for European family offices, institutional capital, and discreet principal advisory.
Gulf & Special Situations
DIFC. Established for our growing book of Gulf-based restructuring and special-situations work.