Deal of the Month – judges announced

THE JUDGING panel for our Deal of the Month initiative is announced today – and it is a who’s who of the region’s deal-making community.

TheBusinessDesk.com launched the new scheme last month in conjunction with professional services lobby group Birmingham Forward. Its aim is to highlight and celebrate corporate deals done in the region or advised by West Midlands firms, and will each month pick a standout deal that illustrates the strength of activity in the region.

Site editor Marc Reeves will chair the panel, and is joined by experts from banking, corporate finance, accountancy and law. The panel meets for the first time on Tuesday September 7, with the winning deal announced the following day.

Any deals covered by TheBusinessDesk.com in its deals section during the month of August can be considered, and a full list of those eligible can be found here.

The judges are:

Graham Nicoll, Barclays Wealth

Graham Nicoll is head of business development at Barclays Wealth and a director of Birmingham Forward.  Before joining Barclays Wealth, Mr Nicoll started, built and sold a corporate fitness company before joining the acquiring firm as business development director and then divisional MD.
 

Charlie Robinson, ISIS Equity Partners

Mr Robinson has four years private equity experience with ISIS, focusing on new investments across a wide range of sectors.  Recent local transactions include the provision of acquisition funding to marketing services business Inspired Thinking Group and the replacement capital investment into medical products distributor Surgi-C. Prior to ISIS, he worked for Deloitte Transaction Services in Birmingham.

David Clarke, Clarke Associates

For the past 24 years, Mr Clarke has run a respected PR and communications consultancy, Clarke Associates, advising many of the region’s leading organisations. He is well known among the professional and financial community acting for advisors and funders as well as being a former chairman of Birmingham Forward. He also serves on the Council of Birmingham Chamber where he is one of four ambassadors representing the city’s creative industries sector.

Jamie Hope, Catalyst Corporate Finance

Mr Hope is a partner at Catalyst and more than 10 years of corporate finance experience.
His main responsibilities include advising on MBOs, fund raising, company acquisitions and disposals.  Recent deals include the sale of Scriptswitch to United Health Inc.  He has a special interest in the IT software and services sector and he also has a wide range of experience of the building products and engineering sectors. A chartered accountant, he spent four years in the corporate finance team at Ernst & Young before joining Catalyst in 2003 where he became a partner in 2009.

Jon Gill, Eversheds LLP

Mr Gill is a solicitor at Eversheds LLP, the international law firm, specialising in mergers and acquisitions, mid-market private equity and venture capital transactions.  He has worked at Eversheds’ Birmingham office since 2004 and acts for a wide variety of major corporates, investors and entrepreneurs, and has a particular interest in the technology, media and telecommunications sector.  
Mr Gill holds an MSc in Entrepreneurship and is the author of the book ‘Business Law for the Entrepreneur’. He also holds the ICAEW Certificate in Corporate Finance and IBA International Practice Diplomas in International Mergers and Acquisitions, International Joint Ventures and International Business Organisations.

Darren Walker, Cobbetts LLP

Mr Walker is an associate in the corporate team at Cobbetts LLP specialising in M&A and private equity.  He took over as chair of Birmingham Future in August 2010 and his theme for the year is entrepreneurialism – and how the business and professional services community in Birmingham can better support emerging talent.  He has recently completed an MBA with Birmingham Business School at the University of Birmingham.  

Julian Smith, Mills & Reeve LLP

Julian is a corporate lawyer and specialises in M&A work.  He has nearly 15 years’ experience advising clients on corporate acquisitions, disposals, joint ventures, shareholders agreements and reorganisations/restructurings.  Most of his work has been for large corporates such as CEMEX and Bupa on a range of deals from around £1 million to over £100 million, but he also advises entrepreneurs and their businesses on corporate transactions.

Fellow judges include Sally Beavan, of Santander and Neil Meredith of KPMG.