Date: Thu 10th September, 2009
Venue:
The economic woes certainly didn’t dampen the spirits of the North East’s corporate finance community which turned out in force once again to support Insider’s third Dealmakers Dinner at Gosforth Park, Newcastle.
Under the slick control of BBC sports journalist and compere Garry Richardson, dealmakers also used the occasion to swap notes on whether the economic recovery was tangible.
Our dealmaker of the year Rod Wilkinson, from KPMG, said it was still unclear whether it was green shoots we were seeing, but said everyone had to learn from the mistakes of recent years as the economy pulled itself out of recession.
“The recovery needs to be slower,” he said. “We gorged ourselves a little over the last ten years. Transactions will happen and businesses will grow but they need sensible, proper business plans. Propositions need to stack up.”
Wilkinson described his team’s work on the £32m management buyout of drug manufacturer Quantum Specials as his personal highlight of the year, a deal that scooped our Deal of the Year award.
“It was a fantastic deal and one we completed in January when there were no transactions happening at all. It is a really good news story, a company which is creating jobs and going from strength to strength.”
Elsewhere Barclays pulled off the double, taking both the individual and team banking awards, while Muckle LLP did the same in our legal categories. NorthStar Equity Investors won our private equity team award for the third year running.
Insider editor Jim Pendrill said with prices at their lowest now was surely the time for canny investors to return to the market in a meaningful fashion.
“For stronger businesses the number one focus for owner managers in the months ahead will be about returning their companies to profit," he said.
“But these companies will not be able to stand still forever. If they want to take true advantage of the pick-up, when it comes, and move their businesses forward to the next stage of development, then they have to be constantly keeping their eyes and ears open to new rounds of investment.”
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