CORPORATE FINANCE ADVISER OF THE YEAR


Sponsored by:


Winner: Michael Barcia Meridian Corporate Finance


Many eyes were on Michael Barcia of Meridian Corporate Finance, going for a hat-trick of consecutive wins as Corporate Finance Adviser of the Year. Could he do it again?


Three experienced contenders were challenging Barcia for the 2016 title; Rob Holmes of WK Corporate Finance, Darren Miller of Spectrum, Corporate Finance and Ian Milne of Spectrum Corporate Finance.


Michael Barcia is one of the South Coast's best-known advisers – having been active in the Solent region for 19 years, the past 14 of these heading up Meridian. Barcia has had another stellar year completing six deals in the qualifying period, four of which within the £15 million to £25m bracket. Headline deals include the 23.5 Degrees fundraise and the CEGA MBO.


Rob Holmes, a director based at the Winchester regional office having joined WKCF in September 2015, advises on company disposals, MBOs, acquisitions and valuations. He worked on the complex cross-border disposal of Cefil UK and Nord-bitumi to Spanish roofing experts DANOSA.


As an adviser in the region for over 20 years, Darren Miller now leads Spectrum's corporate finance business in Southampton. In the qualifying period Miller led five deals including the sale of Access- IS to an MBO backed by Mobeus Private Equity, the sale of Deverill to 365itms and the MBO of Westfield Medical backed by Maven Capital Partners.


Ian Milne, a corporate and structured finance banker with more than 25 years of acquisition and leveraged finance experience, advised on the MBO of Westfield Medical and led the debt-raising for the BIMM Institute


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to allow growth and an acquisition. A significant transaction was the acquisition of Contractor Financials by Mortgages Made Easy, where Milne arranged debt facilities to support the transaction.


Jeremy Over, corporate team partner at sponsor Moore Blatch, announced the winner as “one of the most experienced advisers in the region, and most respected too”– Michael Barcia had indeed won three years in a row.


Justly proud, Barcia put his success at Meridian down to reliability and consistency. “I keep doing the same thing every year, which is completing all the deals that we take on, including the difficult ones.”


Is Barcia's way of working in Meridian different to other advisers? “I think we are probably more detailed in how we do our stuff. On any transaction before we take it on, we will do the due diligence part and the legal diligence part, so our selling point is that before we go to market we should know what the problems are, as opposed to having people fall at the last hurdle because something new has come up. We try to anticipate and address all the problems before they come. That's slightly different I think.”


Make sure you are honest, open, manage everything and treat everybody well in the process, he added.


Meridian is successful? Are you planning to grow? “We are eight at present and we are looking to get to 10, but you have to grow in the right way.” This is by developing and bringing on talent within Meridian, he suggested.


THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – SOLENT & SOUTH COAST – JULY/AUGUST 2016


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