Yorkshire’s outstanding deals showcased at Rainmaker Awards 2015

DEALS categories at the inaugural Rainmaker Awards 2015 celebrated collaborations between teams and different financiers that ended in a successful and transformative result.

Yorkshire teams truly ‘made rain’ with the deals done in the year to 31 March 2015. 

TheBusinessDesk.com reported yesterday that the deals market in Yorkshire had hit £1.4bn already this year, and these are some of the deals that helped contribute.

The Public Markets Deal of the Year aimed to recognise the work behind an IPO, acquisition or disposal, that achieved significance through value, complexity, or strategic importance.

The Card Factory IPO was the winner of this category, with the deals team from UBS picking up the award.

The UBS team said of the difficulties of being in the spotlight with a consumer business: “There’s definitely more pressure with consumer companies. They have a lot more press attention which can work both ways. Card Factory has done really well with positive news and PR afterwards.

It wasn’t always a sure thing though: “We were confident at the time of the float, but there was nervousness around the equity market, it was a market situation rather than anything to do with the company.

“It was a solid investment case, with a top notch management team so we had no worries about them.”

The International Deal of the Year went to Rothschilds for the transaction which brought Australian firm Peters Food Group under the R&R Ice Cream umbrella.

Rothschilds spokesperson said that there are unique issues that come with doing business half a world away. “We’ve done a few things in Australia, it’s undoubtedly the time difference, especially when you’re doing things in mainland Europe and the US. Then you end up with a 24-hour working day, which isn’t easy.

“There are a lot of great businesses that will look overseas for growth and we, and everyone else in the room, is here to support them.”

Rainmaker Awards 2015 - International Deal of the Year, R&R Ice Cream acquisition of Peters Food Group

The award for the most strategically important regional transaction, worth up to £15m, the Small Cap Deal of the Year, went to Endless, who teamed up with Addleshaw Goddard and Gordons to support the investor buy-out of Kiddicare.com from Morrisons.

Darren Forshaw of Endless described it as “a deal that worked out for all parties” as the firm went up for their second award of the night.

Private Equity Exit of the year went to the Card Factory IPO, for the most successful ROI from a portfolio investment, and Investec and UBS picked up the award.

The award for the most strategically important regional M&A Deal of the Year, which was recognised for scale and the “transformational nature” of its impact went to KPMG for the sale of Hull-based Victoria Plumb to TPG.

Christian Mayo of KPMG said: “East Yorkshire and Hull in particular are fantastic breeding grounds for investment, proven with big firms like Siemens moving in. It’s all about Yorkshire, and a good deal is beneficial to the whole region.”

Shortlists:

  • Public Markets Deal of the Year

Winner: Card Factory IPO (Investec, UBS)

Connect Group’s acquisition of Tuffnells Parcels Express (KPMG, PwC, Eversheds)
Polypipe IPO (EY)

  • Private Equity Exit Deal of the Year

Winner: Card Factory IPO (Investec, UBS)

Secondary buy-out of Adler & Allan (KPMG, Rothschild, Squire Patton Boggs, Walker Morris)
Montagu Private Equity’s sale of Cap Automotive (EY, Addleshaw Goddard)

  • International Deal of the Year

Winner: R&R Ice Cream acquired Peters Food Group, Australia (Rothschild)
Ecco, USA, bought Public Safety Equipment (PwC, Deloitte)
Didix, Netherlands, bought Taste Marketing (Deloitte, Grant Thornton, Chadwick Lawrence)

  • M&A Deal of the Year

Winner: Sale of Victoria Plumb to TPG (KPMG)
Management buy-out of SSP (Deloitte, Addleshaw Goddard)
Evo Business Supplies’ purchase of Office2Office (Deloitte, Rothschild, Walker Morris)

  • Small Cap Deal of the Year

Winner: Investor buy-out, led by Endless, of Kiddicare.com from Wm Morrison Supermarkets (Rothschild, Addleshaw Goddard, Gordons)
Business Growth Fund investment in Moda in Pelle
Acquisition of York-based IT specialist Trustmarque by Liberate, backed by Endless (Squire Patton Boggs)
MBO, backed by NorthEdge Capital, acquired Sumo Digital (Deloitte, Addleshaw Goddard)

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