This year’s Insider Dealmakers Awards are proof the region’s professionals are capable of raising their game when times get tough, says Peter Baber.
We all know there’s a credit crunch, and the markets are crashing around us. And yes, we all know of banks that were once household names that are no more. But that hasn’t affected the Yorkshire dealmaking community too harshly, judging by our shortlisted entries for the Yorkshire Insider Dealmakers Awards 2008.
After all, would a region that was badly hit by the comings and goings on the international markets really pull off a £198m take-private, a £514m management buyout, or two private equity-backed sales around the £1bn mark? No, thought not. You can find out about these deals later, as they have been nominated for our flagship award – Deal of the Year.
As usual, all nominations for the awards have been sought from professionals in the community – these awards are all about peer-to-peer judging. And there are 14 categories you have voted on. There are individual and team awards for the best lawyers, bankers, corporate finance advisers, asset-based lenders and private equity providers as well as awards for the best mid-market advisory firm and the best young dealmaker (who must be no older than 35).
There are the two flagship awards for Deal of the Year and Dealmaker of the Year, the latter for the one person the community thinks has really shone in what has been a challenging year.
In the following pages you’ll find who is in the running for these titles ahead of the Dealmakers Awards at Saviles by the Royal Armouries in Leeds on Thursday 27 November.
We have a new compere this time: Bill Turnbull, frontman for the BBC’s Breakfast News programme and presenter on the BBC Six O’Clock news. So even those dealmakers who have had to burn the midnight oil should recognise him.
This year we will again be handing out an extra prize presented in memory of Roger Powell, director of corporate and structured finance at the Royal Bank of Scotland. He was a regular feature of the awards through much of this decade, but died in March 2007 at the young age of 41.
The Roger Powell Lifetime Achievement Award, in association with RBS, will go to the one Yorkshire professional who Insider believes has really gone out of their way to promote Yorkshire deals and the quality of dealmaking in the region.
You will have to wait until the night to find out who that is. Or until next issue, when we reveal the winners and find out more about what makes Yorkshire dealmaking great.
To read full details on the shortlists for the Insider Dealmakers Awards 2008, please refer to the November issue of Yorkshire Business Insider, which can you purchase in our Shop.