CORPORATE finance lawyers at Ward Hadaway have advised on over £720m of transactions during the past year as the deals market shows tentative signs of revival.

The law firm’s 18-strong corporate finance team has seen an increase in both the number of deals done and the total value of transactions in the year to the end of April 2011.

Highlights have included advising on a number of multi-million pound international deals as well as a series of investments in a wide range of businesses across the North.

Martin Hulls, partner and head of corporate finance at Ward Hadaway, said: “This has been a really encouraging past year for the corporate finance team after a couple of the most challenging years which any of us within the sector in this region can remember.

“Whilst activity on the deals front remains some way off the peaks of the ‘boom years’ of 2007 and 2008, the past 12 months have seen definite signs of something approaching a return to normality.

“As a firm, I believe we have been helped by the fact that we continued to invest in our corporate finance team in the difficult time following the financial crisis and the recession so we were ready to take advantage when things started to improve.

“And, very importantly, the fact that we have a number of different specialist teams within the department which we can call on enables us to advise on everything from cross-border multi-million pound transactions and large-scale refinancings to £30,000 venture capital investments and anything in between.”

The largest deal in terms of transaction value which the Ward Hadaway team advised on during the course of the year was the US $255m (£150m) acquisition of a significant stake in London-based ED&F Man, a global provider of agricultural commodities such as coffee and molasses, and the world’s second largest sugar dealer.

Ward Hadaway advised German food giant Sudzucker on the deal, the Mannheim-based group returning to engage the North East firm’s services after being impressed with Ward Hadaway’s work on the 2009 sale of Ashington-based company Sugarfayre.

Mike Spetch, a partner in Ward Hadaway’s Newcastle corporate team, said: “There is a high degree of investment synergy for both parties.

“ED&F Man are a top-to-bottom commodity supplier and broker with a truly global operating presence operating primarily in the sugar, molasses and coffee markets. Sudzucker took the view that this was a way for them to establish a global footprint.”