43 CORPORATE FINANCE TEAM
OF THE YEAR AWARD
SPONSORED BY LEUMI ABL WINNER Grant Thornton
Above: Duncan Lamb of Grant Thornton
Right: The Grant Thornton team collect their award from Jonathan Hughes (front right) of sponsor Leumi ABL
One of the most hotly contested titles of the night saw previous winners Grant Thornton vying for top honours with Baker Tilly, HMT and Spectrum Corporate Finance.
Already acknowledged as the “most active financial adviser across the South East”, Grant Thornton has advised on scores of deals over the past 12 months, including Bullitt Group, Primrose, 8el and Maindec.
Among the many nominations, one said the team had “consistently been the top performing corporate finance advisers in the region over the last five years”, while another added “…they generate a significant amount of deal flow for the market…and are also excellent at getting deals over the line in a tough economy.”
There were plaudits for the Baker Tilly Southern Region CF team, which consists of both M&A and private equity and transaction services teams, all of which were described as being “extremely active” during the qualifying period.
The arrival of Kirsty Sandwell, head of corporate finance (south) in 2011 has seen the team grow “substantially” and, with offices in Basingstoke, Guildford and Gatwick, the firm has advised on a number of key deals, including the sale of international premium food brand Rhubarb and RFD’s sale to ECI Capital.
THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – THAMES VALLEY – MAY 2013
Enjoying an extremely active 2012 has been the team from HMT Corporate Finance, advising on MBOs at Tessella and Intuitive, acquisitions at Ground Control and Veritek, and a host of other disposals and investments.
With Andrew Thomson already scooping the title of CF Adviser of the Year, the pressure was on to see if the team could make it a double night for celebration.
The audience was told that the appointment of Ian Barton had added to HMT’s strength, with one nomination saying: “HMT consistently demonstrates an ability to punch above its weight whilst maintaining an active involvement in regional transactions.”
Fast making its presence felt in the CF marketplace is Spectrum Corporate Finance, which is growing year on year. Deals in 2012 ranged from the disposal of OSP, the funding of Petromedia and the sale of Industry Media, through to the £35 million MBO of Leisure Pass Group and corporate divestments of Arquiva OB and Serco Learning.
One nomination said the Leisure Pass deal had required a full team approach, demonstrating Spectrum’s core skills of business planning and in-depth financial analysis and modelling, deep transactional and project management, through to management equity terms and hands on debt advisory, and even through to interim FD work post deal.
With such strong competition, one of the biggest cheers of the night came when Jonathan Hughes, regional sales director of award sponsor Leumi ABL, announced the name of Grant Thornton as the winner once again.
The whole Grant Thornton team took to the stage and afterwards Duncan Lamb said: "We are delighted to have won this award for a third year. Wendy, Bob and I are extremely proud of the team, who demonstrate real drive, energy and commitment in the face of protracted difficult market conditions.
“Our continued success in initiating and completing transactions during 2012 is testament to the tenacity and experience of our 17 great people. The MBO of Tessella, is a perfect example of this. We were instrumental in initiating, broking and shaping the transaction with a relatively unusual deal structure, designed specifically to meet the needs of all the stakeholders. We pride ourselves on getting the right answers for our clients and we don't give up. It's a great team and a well-deserved award.”
www.businessmag.co.uk
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