Judges divided on Deal of the Month

THE latest Deal of the Month award saw judges split between two hugely different transactions.

The Co-operative Group’s merger of its high street travel agency business with Thomas Cook and private equity firm LDC’s £12m investment in live events business WRG, share the honour for August.

Both deals received three votes each from the panel of corporate financiers, lawyers and bankers, with the other two deals, the MBO of Warrington gin-maker Greenalls and the £275m acquisition by equity house Cinven of financial services group Aegon’s North West-based Guardian life insurance business, received two votes each.

This is the first time the Deal of the Month award has not seen an out-right winner.

The WRG deal was supported by KPMG’s Jonathan Boyers, Deloitte’s Jodi Birkett and Napthens’ Keith Melling, while the Co-op/Thomas Cook deal was voted for by PwC’s Colin Gillespie, Addleshaw Goddard’s Roger Hart and Rothschild’s Andrew Thomas.

Jodi Birkett said of the WRG deal: “This is a private equity transaction, which have been challenging to execute this year in the face of competition from trade and high quality assets. It is an entirely North West based transaction, and the  business has attracted a very senior non executive, Michael Grade, which supports the opportunity for the business.”

Commenting on the Co-op/Thomas Cook deal Colin Gillespie said: “Mergers are always highly complex, and in this case a venture between a listed company and The Co-operative in a tough sector, makes it a very interesting deal.” 

Chris Barry, editor of TheBusinessDesk.com said: “August is traditionally a quiet month for deals, and although there weren’t as many completions as we have seen in the last few months, those that did all had their own merits and really split the judges.

“Going in to the autumn it will be interesting to see if the recent Eurozone sovereign debt crisis, which has knocked investor confidence globally, will de-rail deal flow in the final quarter.”