Deals Awards: Winners are crowned
Duncan Lamb of Grant Thornton and Stewart Lambert of James Cowper were voted the two top Dealmakers in last night's Thames Valley & Solent Deals Awards.
Lamb was Dealmaker of the Year (under £25m) and Lambert Dealmaker (over £25m) as 400 guests gathered at Oakley Hall, near Basingstoke for the gala awards evening.
A total of eight deals were in contention for Deal of the Year – five in the under-£25 million category and three in the over-£25m category. Six people were in contention for Dealmaker of the Year.
The qualifying period for nominations was deal activity between January 1, 2009 and February 28, 2010.
The winners and finalists were:
Bank of the Year – sponsored by Clarke Willmott
Winner: HSBC
Shortlisted: Lloyds TSB, The Royal Bank of Scotland
Banker of the Year – sponsored by Paris Smith
Winner: Mark Frettingham, HSBC
Shortlisted: Nigel Gibson, Lloyds TSB; Richard Knight, Co-operative Bank
VC Firm of the Year – sponsored by RBS
Winner: LDC
Shortlisted: Maven Capital, Zeus Private Equity
Corporate Finance Team – sponsored by HSBC
Winner: HMT Corporate Finance
Shortlisted: Grant Thornton, PricewaterhouseCoopers
Corporate Finance Adviser – sponsored by HSBC
Winner: Simon Davies, Grant Thornton
Shortlisted: Peter Barrand, HMT Corporate Finance; Duncan Lamb, Grant Thornton
Law Firm – sponsored by Grant Thornton
Winner: Shoosmiths
Finalists: Blake Lapthorn; Pitmans
Management Team – sponsored by PwC
Winner: Micro Focus plc management
Finalists: Chemring Group management; PIMS Group management
Dealmaker (under £25m deal value) – sponsored by Pitmans
Winner: Duncan Lamb, Grant Thornton
Shortlisted: Peter Barrand, HMT Corporate Finance; Mark Ward, RBS
Dealmaker (over £25m deal value) – sponsored by Barclays
Winner: Stewart Lambert, James Cowper
Shortlisted: Simon Davies, Grant Thornton: Kevan Leggett, LDC
Deal of the Year (over £25m) – sponsored by The Business Magazine
Winner: Snell & Wilcox: £72m merger with Probel
Shortlisted: Micro Focus: $173m acquisitions of Borland Software and Compuware; Chemring Group: $132m acquisition of Hi-Shear Technology Corp plus $100m and $280m refinancing of Chemring
Deal of the Year (under £25m) – sponsored by The Business Magazine
Winner: Modelzone: £9.5m MBO
Shortlisted: Wallingford Software: Sale to MWH Inc (undisclosed value); Westway Cooling: £8.5m MBO; Hot Wheels International & Circle Bikes: Disposal to Dorel Inc (confidential value); One Bill Telecom: Acquisition by XLN Telecom (undisclosed value)
Judges considered 294 separate nominations. All deals considered eligible were relevant to the Thames Valley or Solent/South Central areas – with either the target, acquirer, funder, law firm or adviser located in this region.
The dinner at Oakley Hall, which was compered by Chris Barrie, star of television series Red Dwarf, the Brittas Empire and Britain’s Greatest Machines, was a sell-out with up to 400 professionals gathering for the black-tie event.
www.dealsawards.co.uk
