The Thames Valley Deals Awards, staged by The Business Magazine, is the leading event in the region’s corporate finance calendar.
The Thames Valley Deals Awards brings together corporate finance advisers, lawyers, bankers, private equity investors, accountants, and funding specialists – plus of course, the management teams that have led the deals themselves.
For more information on the event, contact the events team.
For information on event and category sponsorship, contact Peter Laurie
This event has sold out, please get in touch with [email protected] to be placed in a cancellation queue.
We are delighted to welcome back the ever-popular Mark Durden-Smith to add his highly entertaining style of presenting to the evening’s celebrations.
Mark, who is one of Britain’s most versatile presenters, has hosted the Aviva Premiership and the Anglo-Welsh Cup rugby highlights on Channel 5. He has also previously hosted Sky Sports Centre and fronted Sky’s BAFTA winning rugby coverage and ITV’s Boat Race Coverage for which he was nominated for a Broadcast Award.
Mark has presented ITV’s flagship show This Morning, teaming up with Kate Thornton and Myleene Klass and has been a newspaper pundit on Lorraine Kelly’s sofa on ITV’s Lorraine.
He has also been a regular guest presenter for The Breakfast Show on BBC London Radio alongside Gaby Roslin. Mark was the anchor for the launch of RI:SE Channel 4’s breakfast show back in 2002. In 2007 he presented ITV1’s holiday series Wish You Were Here - Now and Then. Other presenting credits include: Freeze Out, Package Holidays Undercover (ITV),
I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here Now, and Hell’s Kitchen Extra Portions (ITV 2), Millionaire Manor (BBC 1), The Underdog Show (Living), Gutted (Home) and three series of The Match (Sky One). Mark’s writing credits include a regular column for Metro Newspapers as the ‘Voice of 02’ for the England Rugby Team at the Rugby World Cup.
1st July 2022 - 30th June 2023
Got a Question?
The event has now sold out, email [email protected] to be placed in a cancellation queue.
Booking a table of 10 includes a 10% discount which is reflected in the price.
Ticket includes networking drinks reception upon arrival,
three-course gala dinner,
half bottle of wine per person,
teas and coffees.
Price excludes VAT
£1,800.00
The event has now sold out, email [email protected] to be placed in a cancellation queue.
Ticket includes networking drinks reception upon arrival,
three-course gala dinner,
half bottle of wine per person,
teas and coffees.
Price excludes VAT
£1,000.00
The event has now sold out. Email [email protected] to be placed in a cancellation queue.
Ticket includes networking drinks reception upon arrival,
three-course gala dinner,
half bottle of wine,
teas and coffees.
Price excludes VAT
£200.00
Supporting Partnerships offer tickets to the event plus branding and advertising opportunities. In Association partnerships are available for public and education sectors offering low cost access to the Thames Valley Deals Awards programme.
Register your interest in next year's event
RegisterDealmakers from across the region gathered at Reading FC's Select Car Leasing Stadium to honour outstanding achievements at the 2023 Thames Valley Deal Awards.
Over 300 corporate deal professionals and their guests cheered on winners in 14 categories during a packed evening of celebration.
Richard Thompson, Managing Director of The Business Magazine, began by thanking the award category sponsors for their support. They were HMT, Gateley Law, Crowe U.K. LLP, Shawbrook, ThinCats, LDC, HCR Law, BDB Pitmans, IBB Law, R3vamp and BDO LLP.
He also thanked the independent judges John Buxton from Kingsworth Corporate Finance and Jeremy Hill from Kleinwort Hambros. They faced the tough task of helping to whittle down the entrants, choose the finalists and agree on the winners.
For the Corporate to Corporate, Small, Mid-Range and Large Deal of the Year awards, the judges’ choices made up 70% of the vote. On the evening, the audience vote counted for the remaining 30%.
This year, a special award was given in honour of The Business Magazine’s founder, David Murray. The first recipient was Duncan Lamb, Corporate Finance Partner at BDO LLP.
Once again, the ever-popular host, TV presenter Mark Durden-Smith, returned to preside over the awards.
During the evening, guests generously donated £2,650 to Professor Lakhoo's Charity Foundation with more to come from a silent auction.
“It's been a busy year for us. There is still momentum in the lower-mid market where we are lending. Deals have been a bit slower and more difficult to conclude, but we are continuing to support SMEs in the region. We take a very pragmatic approach on deals and are fleet of foot. We aim to deliver solutions that we feel are right for the business and right for us as a lender. We are carrying some momentum into the final quarter of 2023 and think there will be softness in the market in the first quarter of 2024 as volumes tail off a little. But we are expecting activity to pick up again in the second quarter.” Dave Sherrington, Managing Director, ThinCats
“It has been a really busy year and the firm has grown by around 20%-25%. We are in a fortunate situation where we have a funding solution that works for a wide range of SMEs. We back management teams from quite small to more significant SMEs, which has helped us to grow significantly. The key thing for us is backing high-quality management teams across a broad range of companies that have interesting growth plans. We have an equity package that can support that. Everyone has got used to the current business challenges and I don't think these are going to change. In fact, we see the next 12 months continuing to be busy, if not busier." David Wrench, Partner, YFM Private Equity
Stuart Williams – James Cowper Kreston
"This has been a really good year for me and the team. Among the highlights were a couple of complex deals – Norman Global Logistics and Urban Planters. My approach is that there's always an answer to suit both the buy side and sell side in any deal. It's a question of finding the middle ground and you can do that in a friendly way without being aggressive. We are usually involved with clients on a deal for a long period, so you have to build trust with them. I've been working on Thames Valley deals for 20 years and it's helpful having a well-connected deal community. It makes it easier to hold conversations with other professionals to find the best solutions." Stuart Williams, Corporate Finance Partners, James Cowper Kreston
"I’m really chuffed, and it’s great for the team to be recognised this way by the people in the room tonight. It’s taken a while to build the team to where it is today, but I have enjoyed every minute of it. The team are amazing and has the capacity and capability to support the local community with its deals, no matter how big or small.” Bob Alsop, Partner, Crowe U.K. LLP
Rachel Turner – HCR Law
“It’s been a good year for me and my team. I’m blown away by the continued support and the recognition this award gives our corporate finance team. I’d like to thank all those who trusted me with their deals and their clients, as well as my team for all their hard work and enthusiasm for what we do.” Rachel Turner, Head of Thames Valley Corporate, HCR Law
Image: Robert Rice, Partner HCR Law, accepting Rachel's Award on her behalf.
“It’s been a challenging year but we have had a steady deal flow throughout. Deals might have taken longer to do and been a little more difficult but the pipeline has been strong. The number of referrals we get from the local professional community has been fantastic. We have recruited new people and brought them on by schooling them in our business ethos in anticipation of our workload increasing. We think there are all sorts of reasons to be optimistic about the deal flow next year, even though the economy might not be that strong.” Robert Rice, Partner, HCR Law
“The last 12 months have been difficult and we have focused very much on sectors we are strong in and have had some good client results. We’ve stuck to what we are good at, have a really good team and also do a lot of research and business development. Deal highlights include working with clients in the airline and automotive sectors on complicated global transactions. A lot of our work comes through referrals, so the Thames Valley dealmaking community is our lifeblood.” Duncan Lamb, Corporate Finance Partner, BDO LLP
“As a specialist lender, our strategy is to get under the skin of the management team involved in the deal and really understand them. The deals we work on are sometimes ones that the bigger banks have moved away from. Relationships with business owners are important to us and we view what we do as providing a solution rather than a financial product. We are still seeing some post-Covid uncertainty but there are plenty of exit transactions taking place and the quality of business is shining through, despite the economic environment.” Oliver Sutton, Director, Shawbrook
Jack Griggs – James Cowper Kreston
“This was a big surprise to win in a very strong field. We had a very successful first quarter of the year, which brought in a lot of new work. I worked on the Urban Planters investment by Rentokil deal which was complicated as it involved 10 separate shareholders, so there were 10 opinions to talk to and keep happy. We took a very proactive approach. For me, the key reward on deals is being able to help business owners, often when they choose to exit, and helping them sell, step back and retire.” Jack Griggs, Senior Manager, James Cowper Kreston
Andigestion Sale to Severn Trent Green Power
“This deal represents a good transaction for the green economy. Andigestion is about anaerobic digestion to produce renewable energy. It is part of the UK’s carbon zero agenda. We acted for Summerleaze, which is a local Maidenhead-based family business, with support from BP Collins. It was a strategic acquisition for Severn Trent Green Power, who were frontrunners in the deal from the beginning. For Summerleaze, the sale enabled them to realise capital to reinvest in their business. They felt Andigestion was a business that would benefit from new ownership and it was part of Severn Trent’s strategy to invest more in these types of business.” Mark Allen, Corporate Finance Partner, Crowe U.K. LLP
“It was a special deal because of its size and complexity, but also because it is in a sector in which BP Collins has longstanding experience – waste, recycling and renewables – while helping support the Government’s commitment towards net zero emissions. We were able to draw from the experience of our top-ranked (in Chambers and Legal 500 legal directories) Environment group in supporting Summerleaze, who we have represented for over 30 years,” Alex Zachary, Corporate and Commercial Partner, B P Collins LLP
MBO of Norwegian Log Homes
Andigestion sale to Severn Trent Green Power
“This deal represents a good transaction for the green economy. Andigestion is about anaerobic digestion to produce renewable energy. It is part of the UK’s carbon zero agenda. We acted for Summerleaze, which is a local Maidenhead-based family business, with support from BP Collins. It was a strategic acquisition for Severn Trent Green Power, who were frontrunners in the deal from the beginning. For Summerleaze, the sale enabled them to realise capital to reinvest in their business. They felt Andigestion was a business that would benefit from new ownership and it was part of Severn Trent’s strategy to invest more in these types of business.” Mark Allen, Corporate Finance Partner, Crowe U.K. LLP
“It was a special deal because of its size and complexity, but also because it is in a sector in which BP Collins has longstanding experience – waste, recycling and renewables – while helping support the Government’s commitment towards net zero emissions. We were able to draw from the experience of our top-ranked (in Chambers and Legal 500 legal directories) Environment group in supporting Summerleaze, who we have represented for over 30 years,” Alex Zachary, Corporate and Commercial Partner, B P Collins LLP
LDC’s exit and reinvestment in FSP
Duncan Lamb – BDO LLP
“I am very flattered to win this award. I have worked in the Thames Valley for a long time, as had David. What he built for the region is absolutely amazing, not just for the Thames Valley dealmaking community but also for the private equity community in London. They come here because they know the Thames Valley is really important and these awards aren’t just an event, they are THE event. It is the networking event we all love to come to and that’s down to David.” Duncan Lamb, Corporate Finance Partner, BDO LLP
Highly Commended: James Cowper Kreston
Highly Commended: James Cowper Kreston
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