Deal Awards

Feb 6 2008 nebusiness.co.uk

College takes honours in first-class awards

NEWCASTLE Colleges purchase of a national training provider completed in just 10 days which transformed it into a national brand was recognised as the Deal of the Year at this year's inaugural Journal Deal Awards.

Launched by The Journal and our sponsors earlier this year, the awards were created to recognise the importance of the business deals which fuel the regions economic growth and the role of those who make them.

We received a host of entries for the seven categories and last night the winners were revealed at a dinner for 300 guests in the Gateshead Hilton.

In March last year when Newcastle College bought national training provider Carter & Carter it not only secured the jobs of Carters 1,500 staff, it boosted the colleges annual turnover by s50m to s150m and raised its profile across the UK.

Jackie Fisher, principal of Newcastle College, received the award from the host for the evening, Wendy Gibson.

Ms Fisher said: I am overwhelmed and delighted for the recognition this award gives the college. I would like to thank the judges and the other finalists.

The Dealmaker of the Year award went to one of the most prominent figures in North East corporate finance. Paul Mankin, of PricewaterhouseCoopers, was the first full time staff member of the Newcastle corporate finance team in 1988. He now specialises in deals from s5m to s100m and has been involved in more than 200 transactions.

The Journal editor Brian Aitken said: Our inaugural Deal Awards have been a tremendous success. The standard of the competition has been extremely high. We expect this to become an even more closely fought annual event in the coming years.

The Deal Awards are designed to recognise the strength of the corporate market in the North East and celebrate the ambition, vision and skill of our company bosses. They also
reward the often overlooked contribution of the lawyers, accountants, advisers and investors across the region who work tirelessly behind the scenes to make the deals come together.

OBJECT ID=20441819, method=default

The main sponsor for the evening was law firm Watson Burton, with the other sponsors being Lloyds TSB Corporate Markets, UBS Wealth Management, Durham University, unw chartered accountants, North Star equity investors and e.on.

Gillian Hall, head of Watson Burtons corporate department and an awards judge, said: Acquiring a new company or business can energise the buyer and transform its performance. An acquisition strategy requires innovative thinking, nerve and commitment.

We have seen some great examples of acquisitions that have brought a new dimension to the buyers business. Deciding on a single winner has been an incredibly hard job.

Here is a full list of the winners:

Acquisition of the Year, sponsored by Watson Burton

Winner: Newcastle College

Runners up: Hadrian Group, Nomad Digital, Tharsus Engineering

Sale of the Year, sponsored by UBS Wealth Management

Winner: Bywell Holdings to Inflexion Private Equity

Runner up: Heighley Gate to the Wyevale Group.

MBO/MBI of the Year, sponsored by unw

Winner: Summit 1

Runner up: Innocore

Small/Mid-size Company Deal of the Year, sponsored by North Star Equity Investors

Winner: Nomad Digital