DUE DILIGENCE TEAM OF THE YEAR
Sponsored by:
Winner: Baker Tilly
This third award was a new category last year and that inaugural award had gone to the Baker Tilly team. There was a buzz from one table in particular in the room when the shortlist of just two contenders was announced:
• Baker Tilly • PwC
So there was a 50:50 chance that those sitting around the ‘buzzing‘ table expectantly hoping for a winning double were professionals from Baker Tilly.
Baker Tilly‘s Southampton due diligence team, led by Peter Vandervelde, Nick Williams and David Copley, worked on 58 transactions during the qualifying period, with a successful completion on 29 deals. The total deal value amounted to £440 million and covered a diverse range of sectors including private equity-backed buyouts and exits, corporate acquisitions and disposals.
PwC‘s Southampton DD team worked on more than 10 Solent- related deals in the past year, with deal values ranging from £1.8m to more than £1 billion. Among headline deals were the buy-side financial and tax due diligence support to The Innovation Group, a “quality piece of work“ on the Selwood refinancing, and reporting on Cobham‘s acquisition of US listed Aeroflex.
Representing the award category sponsor, Amanda Brockwell (right), corporate partner at Coffin Mew opened the all-important envelope to reveal that Baker Tilly had indeed retained their Solent title.
Nick Williams and David Copley, corporate finance partners in Baker Tilly‘s DD transactions team, were very proud award
www.businessmag.co.uk
recipients. “We‘re absolutely delighted that our team has been recognised again,“ said Copley, while revealing that the firm had another reason to celebrate that evening.
“This morning we announced a new global brand name – RSM – whereby every member of our international network will be rebranded, making us the seventh largest firm of accountants in the world.
“We have already got a pretty good record of international working. In the past six months we have worked in Finland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Germany, France and Spain and America.“
Locally, Baker Tilly has the biggest solely DD-providing team on the South Coast and has a good reputation within the medium- market, working for corporates, PE houses, banks and private individuals, added Copley.
“We are also recruiting at the moment with two new members of staff arriving this summer, and we are constantly scouting for more, so we are very much on the up.“
In the past DD has perhaps been undervalued for its professional input to deals, improving the scope and quality of information available for decision-making and underpinning clarity, certainty and commitment.
Good due diligence work was now being properly recognised, not least through the Solent Deals Awards, the partners agreed.
As Williams pointed out, the biggest deals in the business world always have a DD team involved from one of the major firms. “DD in deals should not be overlooked. It‘s really important.“
THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – SOLENT & SOUTH CENTRAL – JULY/AUGUST 2015
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60