Insider Dealmaker Awards


Posted by superuser on Friday 4th of November 2011 | 0 Comment(s)

Extract from Insidermedia

Fred Done's Betfred was the big winner at last night's Insider North West Dealmakers Awards 2011, scooping both the Deal of the Year and Dealmaker of the Year prizes. Recognised for the company's long-standing courtship of the Tote, which eventually culminated in a £265m deal, Betfred's finance director Barry Nightingale won the top individual prize. The event gathered together more than 800 of the region's top dealmakers in Manchester Central to celebrate another year in which their tenacity and hard work kept the finance community alive. Rugby star Austin Healey was the compere for the evening, which also raised money for The Prince’s Trust.

Corporate Finance Advisory Team of the Year

Winner: Clearwater
Clearwater has acted for private equity houses, management teams and been innovative in attempting to raise a new Venture Capital Trust. That ingenuity and creativity really impressed our judges.
Sponsored by: UBS
Shortlisted: BDO, DC Advisory, Dow Schofield Watts, KPMG, Rickitt Mitchell

Corporate Law Firm of the Year

Winner: Addleshaw Goddard
The judges were massively impressed with the entry from Addleshaw Goddard which oozed class, said one judge. The team has strength in depth and had a good year in a very tough market. The spread of clients includes large regional businesses, such as PZ Cussons, which it has worked closely with and kept that advisory work in the North West.
Sponsored by: Aston Ventures
Shortlisted: Eversheds; Gateley; Pinsent Masons, George Davis Solicitors

Private Equity Team of the Year

Winner: Endless
The job that Endless did on Crown Paints really swayed it for the judges. It was an incredible deal for all concerned and delivered a fantastic return.
Sponsored by: Cobbetts LLP
Shortlisted: LDC, Palatine Private Equity
Asset Based Lender of the Year
Winner: Close Invoice Finance
The judges were impressed with how Close provided working capital to a manufacturing business that enabled it to seal a deal to supply Coca-Cola, just the sort of support that the regional economy needs.
Sponsored by: Rapport
Shortlisted: Centric Commercial Finance, Barclays Corporate, Lloyds TSB Commercial Finance

Transaction Services Team of the Year

Winner: Deloitte
It was a close run thing but the judges were impressed with Deloitte’s entry as it demonstrated quality in the work they did on deals for clients such as Betfred and for the Co-operative Group on the merger of its travel businesses with Thomas Cook.
Sponsored by: Leumi ABL
Shortlisted: KPMG, BDO, PwC, Ernst & Young

Banking Team of the Year

Winner: Yorkshire Bank Corporate and Structured Finance
The judges were full of praise for how Yorkshire Bank’s structured and corporate finance team punched way above their weight and produced a range of work through the year that had range and balance.
Sponsored by: Creechurch Capital
Shortlisted: Barclays Corporate, The Royal Bank of Scotland Corporate Transaction Team, Lloyds Bank Corporate Markets Acquisition Team, The Co-operative Bank

AIM Deal of the Year

Winner: Ideal Shopping Direct – public to private
A take private, advised by Dow Schofield Watts, provided a new investment opportunity. This award was designed to herald floats, placings and fundraisings. Though these have been thinner on the ground, we nevertheless wanted reflect the unique technical skills involved in working with an AIM-listed company.
Sponsored by: McGrigors
Shortlisted: Hasgrove - sale of Interel; CBG - Sale to Giles; Istem Life Science – float; GB Group - acquisition of Data Discoveries

Small Deal of the Year

There were many number of deals that K3 could have won this category with and tribute is therefore paid to its audacious acquisition strategy in buying and building a great business in Salford.
Winner: K3 acquisition strategy
Sponsored by: Handelsbanken
Shortlisted: Sale of CBG to Giles; Sale of Interel to Hasgrove; B3 Cables’ acquisition of Blue Helix; Perspective acquisition strategy; acquisition of Data Discoveries by GB Group
Turnaround/Rescue Deal of the Year
Winner: Acquisition of Liberata
Endless invested £22m in Barrow based Liberata and managed to avoid a horrible insolvency process and preserved 2,200 jobs. However, the business is now well on the road to recovery.
Sponsored by: MC2
Shortlisted: Rescue of Silentnight by HIG Capital

Innovation in Dealmaking

Winner: George Davies Solicitors for Deal Club
The judges appreciated the efforts George Davies has made with its deal club, stimulating activity and providing a useful forum for ideas sharing.
Sponsored by: The Co-operative Bank
Shortlisted: Turner Parkinson for tp deals; Clearwater Corporate Finance for VCT Fund

Venture Capital Team of the Year

Winner: EV
The team at EV have possibly the toughest brief of the North West Fund and have really attacked the market for management breakouts in new start-up businesses with a string of brave investments.
Sponsored by: Centric Commercial Finance
Shortlisted: YFM Equity Partners, FW Capital
Deal of the Year
Winner: Acquisition of the Tote by Betfred
The judges were impressed that the deal involved a group of North West banks who made it possible and who showed real appetite. Fred Done would like to add his personal note of thanks for your support. Also this was the acquisition of a Wigan based business by one with deep roots in the North West.
Sponsored by: The Co-operative Bank
Shortlisted: Investment into Fourth Hospitality by ECI; Sale of Crown Paints by Endless; Sale of Leighs Paints to Sherwin Williams; Investment into Music Magpie by LDC; Acquisition of Tessenderlo Fine Chemicals by Tennants Consolidated

Dealmaker of the Year

Winner: Barry Nightingale, finance director, Betfred
For the first time this award goes to a director of a company involved in a deal, rather than the adviser or funder. It is a recognition of Barry’s role in pulling together a fantastic deal for his boss, the enigmatic Fred Done.
Sponsored by: Watson Moore
Shortlisted: Warwick Ley (Endless); Richard Pulford (DC Advisory); Philip Nuttall (Clearwater); Jonathan Boyers (KPMG)