LAW FIRM OF THE YEAR
Sponsored by:
Winner: Shoosmiths
The audience was now focusing on another highly-prized award among Solent professionals. Six of the best legal teams on the south coast were contesting it; Blake Morgan, Coffin Mew, Moore Blatch, Pitmans, Shoosmiths and Trethowans.
Sean Wright of Shoosmiths had already gained the Lawyer of the Year award, so would any of the contenders prevent the celebration of a Deal Awards double?
The management buyout of Lakesmere was just one high-profile deal where Blake Morgan advised the bank lenders. Others included the MBO of Airsys; and refinancings at Heartstone Inns, Elliott Brothers, and Independent Port Handling.
Coffin Mew's corporate team, led by Nick Gross and Amanda Brockwell, handled £130 million of deals including Keylogic's acquisition by Castleton, delivering the deal to a short timescale; and BVG Airflo's investment from Business Growth Fund. The firm's work on both transactions was highly praised by clients.
Moore Blatch completed more than 30 deals in 2015 including acting for Gill Corporate on its acquisition of Labcal; a significant MBO of a property development business; acting for Tilney Bestinvest on an acquisition, and Monitor Audio on a secondary buyout; plus the sale of Langham Lifts.
Acquisitions, management buyouts, trade sales, and refinancing deals all made for a busy year for the Pitmans team. Major transactions included the MBO of Westfield Medical; Specialist Tours' acquisitions of New York-based Lindstone Travels and Arblaster and Clarke; the MBO of Amicus ITS; and the MBI/ MBO of John Charcol and TF Financial Planning.
A packed portfolio of deals for Shoosmiths included acting for the owners THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – SOLENT & SOUTH COAST – JULY/AUGUST 2016
of aap3 on its MBO; funding for Blis Media; MBO of Cega Holdings; MBO of BOFA International; refinancing and restructuring at Dean & Reddyhoff; acquisition of Drilling Systems Group; and advising the shareholders and management of Mortgages Made Easy on its acquisition of Contractor Financials.
The corporate team at Trethowans worked on some of the region's major deals – from advising the management team at Airsys on its MBO to advising Elliott Brothers on its refinancing; and from acting for management in the MBO at Lakesmere to performing a similar key role for the management team at aap3.
Expectations on one table in particular peaked as Jeremy Hill, senior private banker of the new sponsor of this category, Societe Generale Private Banking Hambros, announced the winner of the prestigious Law Firm of the Year title.
The Shoosmiths table dissolved into a celebration of double delight.
Afterwards Shoosmiths partner Mark Shepherd commented: “This award is recognition of a fantastic team effort. We have a tremendous team, very skilled, that works really extraordinary hard to provide good service to our clients. We also work with other very good professional parties – Spectrum, Meridian, all the banks, for example.
“We are always trying to do the deal rather than win a point. For us, a good deal is one where everyone comes out thinking they have got a good result, rather than winning a contest.
“You need to understand the client and their commercial objectives, so we are not documenting a transaction, we are advising on a commercial arrangements, and unless you are fully involved you can't do that properly.”
businessmag.co.uk
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