Former 1990s high-flying merchant banker Bill Birnie was once thought of as one of this country’s moneymen who made the world go around.

The boyishly dynamic chairman and managing partner of Birnie Capital Partners was a businessman who knew a good deal when he saw one.

Following his corporate dealmaking days at Fay Richwhite, and later Birnie Capital, he branched into a range of different ventures including property development and pharmaceutical life sciences.