DEAL (OVER £25M) OF THE YEAR
Sponsored by: The six nominees for the over £25 million deal value category were:
Audley Travel Deal type: Sale. Equistone exited Audley Travel and 3i stepped in with significant investment, backing a secondary MBO led by CEO Ian Simkins and chairman Richard Prosser. Witney-based Audley, founded in 1996, now has bases in London and Boston, USA
Deal value: Undisclosed
Key involvements in the deal came from: 3i, PwC, Deloitte, Travers Smith, Baird, Ropes & Gray, Parthenon and Spark Optimus
British Car Auctions Deal type: Acquisition. AIM-listed Haversham Holdings acquired British Car Auctions, Europe’s largest used-car remarketing business. Name changed to BCA Marketplace and then relisted on LSE main market. Debt funding underwritten by HSBC leading a bank syndicate
Deal value: £1.2 billion Key involvements in the deal came from: HSBC, PwC, and Clifford Chance
BM Trada
Deal type: Sale. Significant multiple achieved by Grant Thornton in sale of High Wycombe-based BM Trada, described as a ‘Thames Valley hidden gem’. LSE listed, Edinburgh-based Exova acquired company in complex and challenging multi-jurisdictional transaction
Deal value: £28m
Key involvements in the deal came from: Grant Thornton, Shoosmiths and Dickson Minto
Softcat Deal type: IPO. Flotation of Marlow-based tech company Softcat. Considered very successful tech IPO for renowned Thames Valley business, where sales have surged 50% in past three years
Deal value: Market capitalisation £500m Key involvements in the deal came from: EY, Credit Suisse, and Jefferies
Sophos
Deal type: IPO. Founded in 1985, Sophos floated in 2015 and the market saw it go public with the largest-ever technology IPO in London. Sophos is now a proud member of the FTSE250. The deal facilitated a partial exit for Apax Partners and provided the company with a great platform for growth
Deal value: £1.1b flotation
Key involvements in the deal came from: UBS, HSBC, Moelis, Barclays, LBG, Deutsche Bank, JP Morgan, and Morgan Stanley
Whistl Deal type: MBO. PostNL’s UK operation, Marlow-based Whistl, sold to management in a deal led by CEO Nick Wells. HMT advised on the deal with RBS providing asset-based lending
Deal value: £65m
Key involvements in the deal came from: HMT, RBS, Shoosmiths, and Field Seymour Parkes
Winner: Whistl–MBO
And so to the last award of the night – involving six of the best larger deals.
Jonathan Brown, MD of category sponsors UBS Wealth Management had stayed on the stage to present the final 2016 Deals Award.
Receiving the trophy, Dealmaker of the Year Ian Barton achieved a remarkable triple. Having been HMT lead adviser on the BOFA International MBO, and this Whistl MBO, he had ‘won’ all three of the Deals Awards voting sessions.
“Those people who know about this Whistl transaction, also know that it was a really difficult deal that went through many twists and turns over three years, before we finally managed to complete it. They didn’t work on it, but they recognise just how tough a deal it was.” Barton said such peer awareness was “enormously gratifying as an adviser.”
“We never gave up on it – in fact, it was a deal that had to be done twice – and the only sad thing is that the Whistl management team are not here tonight to be part of this award recognition.”
Then with the 2016 Thames Valley Deals Awards over, it was time to celebrate or commiserate ...
www.businessmag.co.uk
THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – THAMES VALLEY – MAY 2016
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