CORPORATE FINANCE TEAM OF THE YEAR
Sponsored by:
Winner: HMT LLP
National law firm Gateley, the new sponsor for this category, will be launching its new Thames Valley office this month based at the top of The Blade in Reading.
Looking for a career highpoint of their own were five title contenders for this award: Grant Thornton, James Cowper Kreston, HMT LLP, Quercus Corporate Finance and Spectrum Corporate Finance.
During the nomination period, 12 deals were completed by the Grant Thornton advisory team and seven by the DD team. The BM Trada sale to Exova plc and complex cross-border Rolling Luggage sale to Samsonite stood out, along with the sale of Croydex to Norcros, with its strong multiple.
James Cowper Kreston’s corporate finance team completed 28 deals in the relevant period – a 65% increase. Led by Nick Rogers, the firm advised on the MBO of Access-IS; the MBO of GfK’s global Animal and Crop Health division; the disposal of Acenseo, Project Medusa – the disposal of Lambert Brothers Haulage; and numerous other investment, disposal and M&A transactions.
HMT’s portfolio of 30 deals (aggregate value £300 million-plus) included leading the MBO at Marlow-based Whistl, the second largest postal operator in the UK; doing a similar job with the MBO at BOFA International; and advising Channel Mum on its ITV investment. The firm was awarded Independent Firm of the Year at the 2015 British Accountancy Awards.
Independent practice Quercus, the ‘boutique’ set up by ex-KPMG’s Adrian Dray, is growing, and advised on the H&J acquisition of Principals Catering Consultants; the merger of law firms Thomas Eggar and Irwin Mitchell; and the sale of Pharma Professionals to CPL Resources plc.
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Spectrum, which set up its Reading office five years ago, has been one of the dominant forces in the region during 2015. In the qualifying period the firm worked on 20 deals with a transaction value of £442m. It now has a team of 13, including five directors and at our press time, was a finalist in the UK Private Equity Awards. Headline deals were Clearwater Group and Access-IS.
Christopher Avery, senior partner of the Thames Valley office for Gateley plc, announced and presented the award to Henley-based HMT.
Established in 1992, HMT is no stranger to local success having won a category at every Thames Valley Deals Awards evening since their inception in 2007. This was the second time that HMT has won this advisory team category.
Individually nominated previously in the evening, HMT founding partner Andrew Thomson proudly explained that his team’s success was based on its evolving strength and multi-disciplinary abilities. “Within our corporate finance field we have audit, tax and outsourcing advisory, due diligence, business modelling, valuations and debt advisory, for example.”
Along with HMT’s past proven performance, the firm’s extensive local connections and the strength of professional services support in the Thames Valley were all sound reasons for Thomson’s positive outlook for a healthy continuing deal-flow.
“The Thames Valley is a very vibrant market. There is certainly more money around nowadays, and a lot of pressure on doing deals, although things have slowed in recent months. It’s just people waiting to see what happens on June 23.”
THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – THAMES VALLEY – MAY 2016
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