Here are all the winners of this year's top-flight Deals and Dealmakers Awards, which were revealed at last night's ceremony at the Glasgow Hilton Hotel:
Deal of the Year
MB Aerospace
The MB Aerospace deal was unanimously awarded the accolade of Deal of the Year for its size, its ambition, its complexity and its positioning of a Scottish business to become a player in a major global market.
The deal to acquire the Asian Compressor Technology Services Company of Taiwan company positions the Motherwell-based business well in its ambition to become a $2 billion turnover company.
One judge summing up the development of MB Aerospace, said: “Its a brilliant story for Scotland that you can take a dying business, strip out something valuable, put in a really good management team and then start buying up companies. By a country mile it was the most impressive in the entire entry for me.”
Dealmaker of the Year
Stewart Langdon, LeapFrog Investments
The judging panel picked an Edinburgh-based dealmaker who is little known in the Scottish marketplace but who conducts notable international deals from his base in the Scottish capital.
Stewart Langdon leads deals for LeapFrog to invest in high-growth financial services and healthcare companies in emerging markets.
One judge said: “Here is real impact investing sitting in Edinburgh which makes a real impact in people’s lives internationally.”
Another judge said: “Stewart is part of a group focused on profit with purpose, which is talked about now but wasn’t when LeapFrog Investments was set up 10 years ago.”
LeapFrog brings together major international financial players with government and international funds to support major international deals.
A member of the judging panel said: “He is a hugely credible individual responsible for some great financials. It’s about being able to prove that social enterprise is good business. They keep a very strict investment policy. It’s not just about throwing money out – it’s got to have a financial return.”
Acquisition of the Year
MB Aerospace
The judges said that the Motherwell-based business’s deal to buy Taiwan-based Asian Compressor Technology Services Company for an undisclosed sum was a stand-out winner in this category.
The judges highlighted both the complexity around the valuation of the deal and its scale and ambition as it took MB Aerospace to a new level as a player in the global market.
The deal had taken the company out of its comfort zone and set the seal on an impressive story of growth and positioned it well to take a bigger slice of a global market.
Deal Transaction Support Award
Grant Thornton
The judges said that the Scottish corporate team at Grant Thornton was the clear winner in this category.
The team had completed 18 deals over the year with a total value of £600 million, which the judges said were very impressive numbers.
The judging panel was impressed by “the depth of local expertise with them doing complex cross-border deals from a team based in Scotland’’.
The judges highlighted the people-focus of the team and its ability to truly tailor advice to the very varied management teams that members were advising.
Early Stage/Risk Capital Deal of the Year
BDD Pharma
The Bio-Images Drug Delivery (BDD) business, which is based in Glasgow and Newhouse, did a deal for funding with Archangels and the Scottish Investment Bank.
The judges said BDD “got the right partner on board at the right valuation to allow the company to scale’’.
One judge said: “This was an example where there was a perfect match between the business and its funder Archangel. They had the same objectives, the same ethos and the company fitted in well with the Archangel network. It all chimes well together.”
MBO/MBI/IBO/EBO of the Year
Miller Homes
The Management Buyout of Miller Homes was “a clear winner, of the category’’ not just for the size of the deal but also for the corporate structure which broadened the management shareholder base.
It was also innovative in that it was funded from the bond markets, which was something that had never been done before by a housebuilder. One judge said: “It was like a PLC board acting in a private company guise. Their approach was clear and clinical.”
The deal realised the investment of the previous group shareholders and aimed to continue the growth of the group via a management team that had a track record of delivering success.
Legal Advisor of the Year
Burness Paull
The firm, which has 50 mergers and acquisition lawyers across offices in Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow, delivered major deals over the year, including the Weir Group’s £98 million acquisition of Singapore-based KOP Surface Products.
One judge said: “A class act. They did some fantastic deals and they managed to span across the whole spectrum of Scottish corporates – not just with the PLCs but they did some significant work with the Scottish Investment Bank, working with start-ups and SMEs as well. It was a very good, rounded offering from a class act.”
The judges also praised Burness Paull for its approach to social responsibility and its work to improve diversity and gender balance in its deal teams.
Sale of the Year
Sanquhar Tile Services
The sale of the Dumfries and Galloway-based business to Shaw Industries, a subsidiary of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, is a deal that creates a local centre of excellence in the manufacturing sector.
The judges said: “It was a great example of a Scottish business with strong manufacturing experience where the acquirer has seen the potential to harness the core knowhow, manufacturing expertise and quality product and significantly grow the business with considerable investment.”
One judge said: “It gave a manufacturing business great new owners, who kept all of the 111 staff in the south of Scotland, adding access to new technology to the knowhow of the business. The impact on the local economy had they pulled out would have been huge but instead the business has got long-term investors. It’s a really nice deal.”
