14 profile
Grant Thornton deals itself a winning hand
Hot on the heels of its triumphs at the Thames Valley & Solent Deals Awards in April, the Grant Thornton team is quietly confident that it has the building blocks in place to achieve even greater success over the next 12 months, writes Alison Dewar of The Business Magazine
A combination of new players to widen its offering and a strong deals pipeline is set to deliver impressive results and, says Duncan Lamb, that also means benefits for the local business community.
“Our achievements at the Deals Awards demonstrate how successful we have been over the last year and everyone was delighted to be recognised for their hard work,” said Lamb, who is director of corporate finance at the firm.
“Now however, we’re looking forward and we see a huge number of opportunities in the marketplace, not least in our own deals pipeline, which is arguably the best we have ever had. We expect to complete some eight deals in the next quarter, with a significant number in the following quarter and beyond.
“We have already done, and are continuing to do, some very high-profile deals and that’s helping us to attract some fantastic new talent, in turn creating even more opportunities, so we are very excited about the next few months.”
Last month saw the arrival in the Reading office of director Bob Alsop, a very experienced deal practitioner who has spent the past 12 years working for PwC in its due diligence team in the south and east.
He has advised on more than 70 corporate and private equity transactions, including buy-side and sell-side due diligence, various public market transactions (AIM and Full List), new lends and re-financings. With a very broad range of sector experience, his collaborative approach to due diligence focuses on giving his clients the information and advice they need to make properly informed investment decisions.
Alsop will be heading up Grant Thornton’s new due diligence offering, working alongside partner Paul Etherington, Steve Holmes, Pinkesh Patel, Ricky Lane and Richard Thomas, all of whom have significant experience of providing transaction advisory services to their clients within the Thames Valley.
“The restructuring and investment in this new team represents a significant level of commitment to the Thames Valley deals market, and I am really excited at the opportunity to strengthen the service offering already provided by a highly successful and growing lead advisory practice,” Alsop told The Business Magazine.
Wendy Hart, corporate finance partner, said the arrival of the new team members brings numbers up to 18 in lead advisory and a further nine in
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transaction support across the Thames Valley and Solent arenas.
And while delighted to be winning plenty of new business, Hart says it isn’t always easy securing these opportunities, as there’s plenty of rivalry.
“Competition in the marketplace for securing mandates for deals is fierce, it’s not just the size of the deal that matters, but also the quality and that’s very important to us,” she added. “We are quietly confident though and genuinely believe we are now
From left: Bob Alsop and Duncan Lamb
achieving a greater proportion of market share which, with our new team members, we hope to increase still further.”
There was no doubting the quality of the deals which helped the team achieve such success in the Deals Awards.
Not only was Grant Thornton named Corporate Finance Team of the Year; but it was a key player in the £20 million disposal of Guralp Systems which was voted Deal of the Year (under £25m).
Guralp is the world’s leading designer and manufacturer of complete broadband seismic systems and its disposal/MBI to Primary Capital was a success story for a wide combination of local professionals who worked on the deal.
Other prominent deals over the past 12 months for the Grant Thornton team included the MBO of Kerridge Commercial Systems, the sale of Partners in Specialist Care and the sale of Hobbycraft.
There was a moment of personal triumph too for Duncan Lamb, as the audience voted him Dealmaker of the Year (under £25m), recognition which he said reflected the hard work put in by all the team.
He believes Grant Thornton’s ability to exploit its experience in sectors such as technology (especially IT services and software), together with specialist engineering, food, retail and healthcare, has also proved key to its success in the area.
“We very much focus on what we are good at and the Thames Valley and Solent has a large proportion of businesses which fits into these sectors,” he continued. “We also have a very
THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – THAMES VALLEY – JUNE 2011
close and strong working relationship with our colleagues in areas such as private equity and the local banking and legal communities.
“Our philosophy is to help grow the whole of the Thames Valley and if we can support our fellow local professionals, then so much the better.”
He believes the strength of expertise in the region has grown, with local advisers completing most of the complex leveraged transactions, keeping business local that may otherwise have gone further afield.
With 2011 at its halfway mark, Lamb is cautiously optimistic the region’s deals market will continue to improve and that hopefully Grant Thornton will be leading the way.
Details: Duncan Lamb 0118-9839612
duncan.lamb@
uk.gt.com www.grant-thornton.co.uk
Bob Alsop
0118-9839637
bob.alsop@
uk.gt.com www.grant-thornton.co.uk
Wendy Hart 01865-799938
wendy.e.hart@uk.gt.com www.grant-thornton.co.uk
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