West Midlands Rainmakers 2023 shortlist revealed

The shortlist for this year’s West Midlands Rainmakers awards, celebrating the corporate finance individuals and teams responsible for the top deals of the year, can now be revealed.

Finance professionals from 30 firms gathered yesterday to select the shortlist from the individuals and teams responsible for arranging more than 500 deals, mergers and acquisitions over the 12 months to the end of March.

West Midlands Rainmakers 2023 is supported by headline sponsor Michael Page, and category sponsors Kuboid and Rhino Interiors. Voting to choose the finalists is now open on a one firm, one vote basis.

The awards will be presented at a summer party at the Macdonald Burlington, Birmingham, on July 5 – you can find out more on the Rainmakers website and book your tickets here.

2023 Shortlist

Teams

Legal:

Browne Jacobson
Eversheds Sutherland
Freeths
Gateley
Shoosmiths
Squire Patton Boggs

Corporate Finance:
Alantra
Clearwater International
Deloitte
Heligan
KPMG
Springboard CF

VC / Private Equity:
Beech Tree PE
BGF
LDC
NorthEdge
Palatine
YFM

Funder:
Beechbrook Capital
FDC
HSBC
Shawbrook
ThinCats
Virgin Money

Transaction Services:
Azets
BDO
Deloitte
Grant Thornton
PwC
RSM

Deals

Small Cap (under £15m):

Gateley’s acquisition of Smithers Purslow
Azets, Liberum Capital, Gateley, MHA MacIntyre Hudson

InHealth acquired healthcare software provider C7 Health
Browne Jacobson, Shoosmiths

MBO of Logik Logistics International
FDC, Browne Jacobson, Gateley, Thursfields, Azets, Debrett’s Private Finance, HB&O

Onecom Group, a portfolio company of LDC, acquired IMS Technology Services in Stourbridge
HMT LLP

Premier Paper Group bought Wine Box Company
Gateley, Harrison Clark Rickerbys, BDO, Orbis Partners

Wavenet bought Fidus Information Security in Cambridge
Nimbus Legal, Dow Schofield Watts

Private Equity Exit:
Signis was carved out from its parent company Antser Holdings and joined the OneTouch Group, in a deal backed by August Equity. The transaction represented a partial exit for BGF.
Mills & Reeve, Cooper Parry Corporate Finance, Shoosmiths, BGF

Marshalls acquired Marley, financed through £371m in cash and £187m from a placing and financing, with Inflexion exiting.
Pinsent Masons, Slaughter and May. Financial; Grant Thornton, Lazard, Numis Securities Ltd, Peel Hunt LLP, Rothschild & Co

TriMech Solutions, in Virginia, acquired 3D computer services firm Solid Solutions from exiting investor LDC
Gowling WLG, Alantra, Grant Thornton

Palatine exited its investment in CTS Group, through a sale to European investor Oakley Capital (following a partial exit from the business in 2021, when it sold a division to HomeServe). Together the transactions represent a return of 5.8x for Palatine’s investors.
Palatine, Clearwater, Gateley, Browne Jacobson, Deloitte

CBPE Capital acquired Veincentre, with investment from Veincentre’s management team. The transaction provided an exit for Palatine Private Equity, which owned a substantial minority stake in the company.
Addleshaw Goddard, Eversheds Sutherland, FRP Advisory Trading, Grant Thornton, Rickitt Mitchell & Partners

Phoenix Equity Partners and LDC exited their investment in Forest Holidays, as it merged with Sykes Holiday Cottages.
Clearwater International, Mayer Brown International, FTI Consulting, and Springboard Corporate Finance; Harris Williams, Travers Smith, Burness Paul, PwC, L.E.K, and Intechnica; Liberty CF and Eversheds Sutherland

M&A:

HomeServe acquired Logic Plumbing Heating & Electrical
Dow Schofield Watts, Squire Patton Boggs

Lucion Services, Gateshead, hazardous materials consultancy, a portfolio company of Palatine Private Equity, acquired Midland Survey, Southam, provider of modern surveying services
Addleshaw Goddard, Wright Hassall, BDO, Heligan Capital Partners

Palatine exited its investment in CTS Group, through a sale to European investor Oakley Capital (following a partial exit from the business in 2021, when it sold a division to HomeServe). Together the transactions represent a return of 5.8x for Palatine’s investors.
Palatine, Clearwater International, Gateley, Browne Jacobson, Deloitte

Ross Trustees, which is backed by LDC, acquired Independent Trustee Services
LDC

Residential care provider Sanctuary Housing Association Worcester acquired Cornwall Care, Devon
Mills & Reeve

Schueco UK acquired Kestrel Aluminium Systems in Birmingham
Wilkes Partnership, Claritas Tax, Orbis Partners

Telecoms firm Wavenet, acquired OGL Computer Support Holdings and its two subsidiaries OGL Computer Support and CyberGuard Technologies
DWF, Squire Patton Boggs, Orbis Partners

International:

Swedish workwear manufacturer New Wave Group acquired BTC Activewear
Squire Patton Boggs, BDO LLP, FRP Advisory, Mazars

Swedish investment firm Systematic Growth acquired Evac+Chair International
Gowling WLG, Harrison Clark Rickerbys, Grant Thornton, PKF Smith Cooper

Hill & Smith acquired the business and asset of Korns Galvanizing Company Inc, Pennsylvania, USA

IMI bought Bahr Modultechnik, a German provider of modular electric linear motion systems

Birmingham marketing tech firm Inspired Thinking Group (Team ITG) acquired New Zealand-based Brand Machine

Stark Group, in Denmark, bought Compagnie de Saint-Gobain’s UK merchanting brands, including Jewson
Addleshaw Goddard, Wright Hassall, BDO LLP, Heligan Capital Partners LLP

Tech manufacturer Solid State acquired California battery systems manufacturer Custom Power
Frost Brown Todd, Shakespeare Martineau, Simmons & Simmons, FinnCap, WH Ireland

Public Markets:

Aston Martin Lagonda raised £576m in a rights issue.

Gateley’s acquisition of Smithers Purslow, with the £12m deal being funded 4 parts cash, 5 parts shares.
Azets, Gateley, Liberum Capital, MHA MacIntyre Hudson

Halfords’ acquisition of Lodge Tyre in a £37.2m deal
Gowling WLG, KPMG

IMI acquired Heatmiser, in a deal valued at £118m
DLA Piper, RSM

Marshalls acquired Marley, financed through £371m in cash and £187m from a firm placing and new debt financing
Pinsent Masons, Slaughter and May, Grant Thornton, Lazard, Numis Securities Ltd, Peel Hunt LLP, Rothschild & Co

Mercia Asset Management acquired Frontier Development Capital, for £7m and with a further £4m dependent on performance
Canaccord Genuity

Private Company:

Aceleron secured a £5m investment from BGF and Mercia Asset Management
Browne Jacobson, BGF, Mercia

Tenzing’s investment into growing accountancy firm DJH Mitten Clarke
Clearwater International, Alantra, PwC, Osborne Clarke

Friend MTS was backed by private equity firm NorthEdge
Alantra, Fredrikson & Byron PA, Freeths, Gateley, Squire Patton Boggs, Walkers, Appleby, BDO LLP, Friend LLP, KPMG, Keystone Partners, Mazars

Private equity firm Endless LLP, acquired family-owned KTC (Edibles), Wednesbury. Wells Fargo provided financing in support of the transaction
Eversheds Sutherland, Walker Morris, Interpath, KPMG, Oghma Partners, PwC, Spayne Lindsay & Co

Beech Tree PE’s investment in Obsequio Group, and its acquisition of APS Security & Fire
Beechbrook, Eversheds Sutherland, Browne Jacobson, Clearwater International

Onto Holdings raised $60m in equity in a Series C funding
Lazard

Individuals

Rising Star:

Mohammed Abbas, Freeths

Mike Craven, NorthEdge

Matthew Guest, Springboard CF

Tom Hustler, Palatine

Tom Joy, PKF Smith Cooper

Davin Kandola, RSM

Changemaker:

Ayesha Ali, LDC

Kelly Henney, PNC

Jumanah Kasujee, PKF Cooper Parry

Beth Mather, Gateley

Deepak Parekh, Shawbrook

Sarah Taylor, Clearwater International

Rainmaker:

Darren Boocock, Deloitte

Helen Brocklebank, RSM

Khush Purewal, KPMG

Richard Sanders, Alantra

Andy Skinner, NorthEdge

Sarah Taylor, Clearwater International