Deals Awards: Deals take centre stage in gala Awards evening
For the first time in four years, the Thames Valley Deals Awards stood proud in their own right at last night’s magnificent gala evening at the Royal Berkshire Conference Centre.
The event, attended by more than 250 guests from across the region’s dealmaking business community, underlines the powerful success of the corporate finance community throughout Reading, Oxford and the wider Thames Valley.
Opening the proceedings, David Murray, publisher of The Business Magazine, acknowledged that it had been an “ambitious step” to organise two separate Deals Awards events this year – one for the Thames Valley and one for Solent – but said the number and standard of nominations, together with the demand for tables, proved it was the right decision going forward.
He drew the audience’s attention to the fact that in the mid-market sector, deal volumes across the region had increased by some 13%; while in the South East, professional services and business services were the most active sectors, with IT accounting for 10% of deal flow.
Murray paid a special thank you to category sponsors Grant Thornton, HMT, HSBC, Leumi ABL, Lloyds Bank, Pitmans, PwC, Spectrum Corporate Finance and UBS for their support, and also paid tribute to the hard work of the judges.
Host for the evening was TV presenter Mark Durden-Smith, whose quick wit and sense of humour provided the perfect foil for the event’s heavyweight presentations.
In true corporate finance community style, the audience also dug deep into their pockets to support the evening’s charity table collection, which raised £2,854 for Brain Tumour Research.
To find out details of the awards winners, please see below. Full details of the evening’s event will appear in the May issue of The Business Magazine
The Results:
Private Equity Firm of the Year - sponsored by Spectrum Corporate Finance LLP
The Private Equity Firm of the Year Award was won by NVM Private Equity
Nominees:
- Business Growth Fund (BGF)
- Mobeus Equity Partners
- NVM Private Equity
- Primary Capital
Lawyer of the Year - sponsored by Lloyds Commercial Banking
The Lawyer of the Year Award was won by Emma Gibson of Shoosmiths
Nominees:
- Emma Gibson (Shoosmiths)
- Hugh Jones (Osborne Clarke)
- Rebecca Mauleverer (Shoosmiths)
- David Tighe (Manches)
Corporate Finance Adviser of the Year - sponsored by HSBC
The Corporate Finance Adviser of the Year Award was won by Andrew Thomson of HMT
Nominees:
- Duncan Lamb (Grant Thornton)
- Kirsty Sandwell (Baker Tilly)
- Andrew Thomson (HMT)
Management Team of the Year - sponsored by PwC
The Management Team of the Year Award was won by CloserStill
Nominees:
- CloserStill
- Ground Control
- Kerridge Commercial Systems
- TT Electronics
Law Firm of the Year Award - sponsored by Grant Thornton
The Law Firm of the Year was won by Manches
Nominees:
- Manches
- Osborne Clarke
- Shoosmiths
- Pitmans
Bank of the Year Award - sponsored by HMT LLP
The Bank of the Year Award was won by RBS
Nominees:
- HSBC
- Lloyds
- RBS
Corporate Finance Team of the Year Award - sponsored by Leumi ABL
The Corporate Finance Team of the Year was won by Grant Thornton
Nominees:
- Baker Tilly
- Grant Thornton
- HMT LLP
- Spectrum Corporate Finance
Dealmaker Award (under £25m) - sponsored by Pitmans
The Dealmaker of the Year Award (under £25m) was won by James Austin of BGF
Nominees:
- James Austin (BGF)
- Duncan Lamb (Grant Thornton)
- Andrew Thomson (HMT)
Dealmaker Award (over £25m) - sponsored by The Business Magazine
The Dealmaker of the Year Award (over £25m) was won by Kirsty Sandwell of Baker Tilly
Nominees:
- Ian Barton (HMT)
- Simon Davies (Spectrum)
- Duncan Lamb (Grant Thornton)
- Kirsty Sandwell (Baker Tilly)
Deal of the Year Award (under £25m) - sponsored by The Business Magazine
The Deal of the Year Award (Under £25m) was won by the Tessella team
Nominees:
- 8el (disposal to Selection Services)
- Serco Learning (disposal to Advanced Computer Software plc)
- SGX Sensortech (management buyin)
- Tessella (MBO)
Deal of the Year Award (over £25m) - sponsored by UBS
The Deal of the Year Award (over £25m) was won by the Xafinity team
Nominees:
- CloserStill (disposal by NVM)
- Leisure Pass Group (MBO)
- Xafinity (CBPE Capital acquisition from Equiniti Group)
The Dealmaker and Deal of the Year categories were decided by keypad voting on the evening. You can download a copy of the awards evening program here.