The first-ever awarding of the Young Dealmaker of the Year title brought a 2017 Solent Deals Awards surprise of its own with two winners – Philip Mettam of Meridian Corporate Finance and Gemma Wild of HSBC.
The Deals Awards judging panel decided the quality of emerging talent in this new under-35s category of ‘rising stars’ deserved joint winners – “Two very impressive dealmakers among a strong entry, all highly talented and impossibly young and vibrant.”
The result on this award’s debut was not the only pleasant double winning surprise of this gala evening staged at Southampton’s Hilton at The Ageas Bowl – the south coast’s major corporate finance event of the year.
Mettam and Wild both doubled up with colleagues in helping to win performance recognition awards for their companies for assisting dealmaking within the Solent region’s business community – with Meridian winning Corporate Finance Team of the Year, and HSBC Bank of the Year.
Law firm Blake Morgan, also took home two Solent Deals Awards. First, Steve Cole, a banking and finance partner in Blake Morgan’s Southampton office, was honoured with the much -prized Lawyer of the Year title. Then Blake Morgan was presented with the overall Law Firm of the Year award.
This year’s Solent Deals Awards attracted more than 520 nominations for the 12 award categories, and a 250-guest ‘black-tie’ gala dinner attendance.
The event was staged by The Business Magazine and sponsored by Taylor Made Computer Solutions, PwC, Moore Blatch, Meridian Corporate Finance, IGF, HSBC, CMA Recruitment, Clarke Willmott, and Blake Morgan.
Brain Tumour Research, the event’s chosen charity, was boosted by donations totalling £1,502.50 and a table collection also gathered £1,669 from generous corporate finance community representatives attending to help London’s Grenfell Tower fire tragedy survivors.
Private Equity Firm of the Year – sponsored by CMA Recruitment Group
Winner: LDC
Other finalists: Altitude Partners, Meridian Growth Capital
Lawyer of the Year – sponsored by Meridian Corporate Finance
Winner: Steve Cole of Blake Morgan
Other finalists: Peter Jeffery of Moore Blatch, Stephen Porter of Shoosmiths
Management Team of the Year – sponsored by PwC
Winner: CT Automotive/ChinaTool
Other finalists: CEGA Group, Hendy Group, Stewart Signs
Due Diligence Team of the Year – sponsored by Clarke Willmott
Winner: RSM
Other finalists: PwC, Mazars, KPMG
Corporate Finance Team of the Year – sponsored by HSBC
Winner: Meridian Corporate Finance
Other finalists: BDO, Spectrum Corporate Finance
Law Firm of the Year – sponsored by Taylor Made Computer Solutions
Winner: Blake Morgan
Other finalists: Shoosmiths, Trethowans
Corporate Finance Adviser of the Year – sponsored by Moore Blatch
Winner: Helen O’Kane of BDO
Other finalists: Darren Miller of Spectrum Corporate Finance, Stewart Lambert of James Cowper Kreston, Darren Thompson of Meridian Corporate Finance, Michael Barcia of Meridian Corporate Finance
Bank of the Year – sponsored by Blake Morgan
Winner: HSBC
Other finalists: Lloyds Banking Group, RBS NatWest
Young Dealmaker of the Year – sponsored by The Business Magazine
Joint Winners: Philip Mettam of Meridian Corporate Finance, Gemma Wild of HSBC
Other finalists: Oliver Kelly of Pitmans Law, Lisa Sigalet of Shoosmiths, Mat Wilson of Blake Morgan
Small Deal of the Year (under £10m) – sponsored by Independent Growth Finance (IGF)
Winner: Stewart Signs MBO
Other finalists: AndersElite MBO; Deacons Boatyard sale to Dean & Reddyhoff; Opus Telecom sale to NIX Communications; ProcessFlows sale to Konica Minolta
Mid-Range Deal of the Year (£10m-£50m) – sponsored by IGF
Winner: ChinaTool/CT Automotive MBO
Other finalists: Dyer & Butler sale to First Resolve; Onecom acquisition of Evolve; Raymond Brown Minerals sale to Elysian; Wellian Investments acquisition and IPO on AIM
Large Deal of the Year (over £50m) – sponsored by CMA Recruitment Group
Winner: Hendy acquisition of Lifestyle Motor Group
Other finalists: University of Southampton bond issue; Utility Funding sale to Foresight Metering; Trustmarque Solutions sale to Capita
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