30 BANK


OF THE YEAR AWARD


SPONSORED BY HMT CORPORATE FINANCE WINNER HSBC


Above: Winners Mark Frettingham (left) and Mark Haines of HSBC Right: Mark Frettingham, Dominic Holland, Andrew Thomson of sponsor HMT Corporate Finance and Mark Haines


Some of the best-known names in banking vied for title honours, with the judges whittling names down to a shortlist of five: Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds Bank, RBS and Santander.


Highlights of the year for Lloyds Bank Wholesale Banking & Markets included the provision of funding for a number of key deals, including the MBO of Leadbitter Group; the secondary buyout of Kee Safety International; the relocation by the Treloar Trust; expansion by World Wise Foods; growth of Albemarle & Bond; and the partial buyout at The Gap Partnership.


The Barclays Corporate team in Southampton was shortlisted for its key role in a complex £230m refinancing at Chemring and a refinancing programme at Wessex Petroleum, both excellent examples of the significant support that the expanded Solent and Dorset team offered to south coast businesses in 2011.


During 2011, the RBS team funded over 35 deals in the Thames Valley and Solent regions, providing new debt facilities of £550m. Of note was the fact the bank wrote £225m of debt facilities across 14 private equity-backed transactions. Key deals included acquisition and development funding at Glenside Care Group; and growth funding at BaxterStorey.


www.businessmag.co.uk


For Santander, it was the Solent office’s track record in agreeing £200m of facilities – a rise of 50% – in 2011 which helped boost it onto the shortlist. Rapid expansion led to the office being involved in key deals at Haskins Garden Centres, Micheldever Tyres, Lomand Homes and others; while the Reading team funded the MBO at Krispy Kreme.


HSBC’s Thames Valley and Southampton offices have enjoyed a successful year with recent deals including the £46m MBO of Autologic, refinancing at Micro Focus, Halma, Direct Wines and many others; in addition to Kerridge’s purchase of TIS Software; the Davies Group buyout and the buyout of Iris Software.


One nomination said: “I am struggling to think of another bank that gets close to the support HSBC has given to the Thames Valley M&A community and, more importantly, the businesses it backs.”


Others cited the bank’s “proactive approach to funding requests” and applauded its support for the business community.


With such appreciation from nominees, it was no surprise when HSBC’s name was read out, making it four Bank of the Year titles in a row and creating a sensational double with Richard Povey’s success as Banker of the Year for the second year running.


THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – SOLENT & SOUTH CENTRAL – MAY 2012


Presenting the award to Mark Frettingham and Mark Haines was Andrew Thomson, managing partner of category sponsor, HMT Corporate Finance.


Haines said: “We were delighted to be named as Bank of the Year once again and are extremely grateful to our customers and those in the professional community who have supported our business over the past 12 months.


“This is the fourth consecutive occasion on which HSBC has won this award and this clearly reflects the market leading position which our leveraged finance teams have established for HSBC in the Thames Valley and Solent regions.


“We are keen to build on that as deal activity across the market increases going forward and to help our customers develop their businesses both in the UK and internationally, where there remains significant growth opportunity.”


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