Thames Valley: Deals Awards finalists chosen from record entry

Judges have chosen the finalists for the Thames Valley Deals Awards 2015 – and there are five candidates for the coveted title of Dealmaker of the Year.

James Austin of Business Growth Fund; Yann Souillard, who runs the Thames Valley office of LDC; Simon Davies of Spectrum Corporate Finance; Duncan Lamb of Grant Thornton; and Andrew Thomson of HMT will compete for the prize of top dealmaker. While the judges have a vote, the final decision will not be known until the awards gala night itself on April 23 when the audience will add their votes and a final winner will be announced.

One of the themes of the awards this year has been the strong showing of private equity firms. Twelve PE firms were in the running for Private Equity Firm of the Year, and judges eventually chose six finalists – BGF, LDC, Connection Capital, NVM, Percipient Capital and Sovereign Capital.

Awards chairman David Murray said: “In the past year, PE firms have been very active in the Thames Valley and this is reflected by the strong entries in this category. The corporate finance community wants to encourage this activity, and we are delighted that six firms have been shortlisted.”

Another trend was the influx of new competitors in the Alternative Lender category. Alongside Leumi ABL, the two other finalists were the Thames Valley Berkshire Escalator, run by the LEP and FSE Group, and Praesidian Capital Europe.

 

The shortlisted finalists in full:

Private Equity Firm of the Year - sponsored by HMT LLP

• Business Growth Fund
• Connection Capital
• LDC
• NVM
• Percipient Capital
• Sovereign Capital

Alternative Lender of the Year - sponsored by Wilson Partners

• Thames Valley Berkshire Funding Escalator (FSE Group, LEP)
• Leumi ABL
• Praesidian Capital Europe

Lawyer of the Year - sponsored by Taylor Made

• Keith Syson (Stevens & Bolton)
• Greg Leyshon (Osborne Clarke)
• Hugh Jones (Osborne Clarke)
• Andrew Peddie (Pitmans)
• Emma Gibson (Shoosmiths)
• Adam Dowdney (Shoosmiths)

Due Diligence Team of the Year - sponsored by Shoosmiths

• Baker Tilly
• Grant Thornton
• HMT
• PwC

Management Team of the Year - sponsored by PwC

• EPI Group
• Gamma Communications
• Skyscape

Corporate Finance Adviser of the Year - sponsored by HSBC

• Adrian Dray (Quercus)
• Andrew Thomson (HMT)
• Duncan Lamb (Grant Thornton)
• Ian Barton (HMT)
• Ian Milne (Spectrum)

Law Firm of the Year - sponsored by Grant Thornton

• Osborne Clarke
• Pitmans
• Shoosmiths
• Stevens & Bolton

Corporate Finance Team of the Year - sponsored by Leumi ABL

• Deloitte
• Grant Thornton
• HMT
• James Cowper Kreston
• Spectrum Corporate Finance

Bank of the Year - sponsored by BCMS

• HSBC
• RBS
• Santander

 Dealmaker of the Year - sponsored by Pitmans

• Andrew Thomson (HMT)
• Duncan Lamb (Grant Thornton)
• Simon Davies (Spectrum)
• James Austin (Business Growth Fund)
• Yann Souillard (LDC)

 Deal of the Year - over £25m and under £25m deal value - sponsored by UBS

Deals over £25m

• Amec acquisition of Foster Wheeler
• Micro Focus acquisition of Attachmate
• Millgate merger with Countryside
• Microlease acquisition of Livingston Group
• Clifford Thames MBO

Deals under £25m

• Cooper Callas MBI
• Connect Communications MBO
• Skyscape Cloud Services growth funding
• Acal Enterprise Solutions MBO