Insider’s East Midlands Dealmakers Awards 2026 celebrated the major transactions in the region and the teams that made them happen. Last night’s ceremony, held at Crowne Plaza Nottingham, was compered by Mark Dolan and sponsored by Bexley Beaumont, BCF Equity Partners, LDC, Progeny and Raze. Freeths, Virgin Money and Weightmans sponsored the photobooth, podium and drinks reception respectively. The charity partner was Base 51.
Bank of the Year
Sponsored by Raze
Winner: NatWest
During the year NatWest’s East Midlands team completed more than 200 deals – from the Aquavista acquisition, Euro Food Brands’ MBO and Charles Bentley’s acquisition of Marxman. In all, Natwest funded transactions in the region worth well over half a billion pounds in total.
Shortlisted:
HSBC
OakNorth
Virgin Money
Corporate Law Firm of the Year
Winner: Browne Jacobson
During the year the firm provided the legals on deals such as the sale of Transvac Systems – one of the most significant cross-border deals in the East Mids in recent years – the exit from Brisant Secure, and advising iM Med on a structurally sophisticated £20m cross-investment with Belimed.
Shortlisted:
AG Corporate Law
Austin Moore & Partners
CMP Legal
Freeths
Flint Bishop
Howes Percival
Shoosmiths
Corporate Finance Advisory Team of the Year
Sponsored by LDC
Highly commended: Provantage Corporate Finance
Winner: Breeze Corporate Finance
Another outstanding year for Breeze, completing 15 deals in the year worth more than £260m, such the sales of MIES Facilities Management and WBR Group’s debt raise. And Breeze already has another 20 deals in the pipeline.
Shortlisted:
Bishopsgate Corporate Finance
Clearwater
Cooper Parry
Dains
Dow Schofield Watts Corporate Finance
KPMG Corporate Finance
PKF Smith Cooper
Transaction Services Team of the Year
Winner: BDO
Two years in a row for the incumbent team at BDO. It holds onto the trophy after handling some pretty complex transactions, such as BGF’s exit from Brisant Secure and LDC’s investment in Eagle Eye Innovations.
Shortlisted:
Claritas Tax
Cortus Advisory
Cooper Parry
KPMG
PKF Smith Cooper
PwC
Private Equity/Venture Capital Team of the Year
Winner: LDC
By far the most active equity player in the East Midlands, LDC’s tally of transactions included investing in both drone platform Eagle Eye Innovations and vegetarian group Bespoke Kitchen Foods, while exiting Shaken Udder, Aquavista and marketing agency Blis.
Shortlisted:
BGF
BCF Equity Partners
Emerging Dealmaker of the Year
Sponsored by Progeny
Winner: Irfan Ashfak, Foresight Group
Ashfak was a clear winner with the judges. He proved he combined strong technical capability with sound commercial judgement in handling Foresight’s investments in businesses such as Texture Jet, Assured Insight and Advantiv.
Shortlisted:
Andy Shepherd, Provantage Corporate Finance
Callum Leslie, PKF Smith Cooper
Emily McFadyen, Weightmans
Siân Rose, Browne Jacobson
Tom Boss, Breeze Corporate Finance
Deal of the Year (up to £10m)
Winner: Acquisition of Huler and Guide by Thrive Learning (Provantage Corporate Finance, Austin Moore & Partners, Claritas)
Nottingham-based Thrive Learning, one of the UK’s fast-growing learning tech companies, pulled off a double acquisition of employee experience software houses Huler and Guider.
Shortlisted:
Merger of Mitchells Accountants & Business Advisors with SMH Group (Phoenix Equity Partners, CMP Legal, Squires Patton Boggs, Mason Thomas Law, Cortus, Shakespeare Martineau, Addleshaw Goddards, Clearwater, HSBC UK)
Aquavista’s multiple marina acquisitions (LDC, Gateley Legal, Cooper Parry, Glaisyers ETL)
Debt raise from Virgin Money for WBR Group (Breeze Corporate Finance, Virgin Money, WBR Law, Browne Jacobson, Dains)
IDSL Group’s acquisition of Fire Doors Rite (LDC, Browne Jacobson, Cortus, Claritas)
Private equity investment into bloc digital (Breeze Corporate Finance, The Smith Partnership, Browne Jacobson, Bright Advisory)
Deal of the Year (£10m+)
Sponsored by Bexley Beaumont
Highly commended: The Sale of Aquavista to Antin Infrastructure Partners (LDC, DC Advisory, PwC, Eversheds Sutherland, Gateley, NatWest, Debevoise & Plimpton, Cooper Parry, Lloyds, Santander, A&O Shearman, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP, LEK, Ramboll, Deloitte, Howden)
Winner: LDC’s investment in Eagle Eye Innovations (Team: LDC, Clearwater, Freeths, BDO, Armstrong, KPMG, Mactavish, FSP, Bishopsgate Corporate Finance, Austin Moore Partners, Duncan & Toplis, Erskine Chambers, Hogan Lovells, Claritas)
LDC put the funds to help this Lincoln-headquartered provider of drone training, operations and consulting services, expand in the UK and internationally. An off-market deal that backs a business raising the bar in its industry.
Shortlisted:
Acquisition of I Holland by Lagercrantz Group (Provantage Corporate Finance, Browne Jacobson, Cooper Parry)
BGF’s £15m investment in Cronofy (BGF, Shakespeare Martineau, RSM, Browne Jacobson, Cooper Parry, Alvarez & Marsal, RP Advisory)
BlueStream Academy sale to Agilio Software (Nelsons, Shoosmiths, Grant Thornton, Nuvo, Parisi Tax, Five Arrows, TA Associates)
Eurocell’s £35m acquisition of Alunet Group (Bishopsgate Corporate Finance, Browne Jacobson, Shakespeare Martineau, RSM)
Investment in RDC Aviation by Northcote Private Equity (Provantage Corporate Finance, Osborne Clarke, Parisi Tax)
LDC’s investment in Bespoke Kitchen Foods (Team: LDC, Claritas Tax, Alvarez & Marsal, Food Strategy Associates, Coppett Hill, Aon, Cooper Parry, Cortus Advisory, Browne Jacobson, Scalewis, Moore Kingston, Needle Partners)
Sale of Brisant Secure to Allegion (BGF, KPMG, BDO, Browne Jacobson, PMSI, Grant Thornton, Fieldfisher)
Sale of Shaken Udder to Idilia (LDC, Clifford Chance, Birketts, Grant Thornton, Freeths, KPMG, EY, Baker Tilly)
Rockpool’s Investment in Imperial Corporate Events (Freeths, Taylor Wessing, HMT, Travel Trade Consultancy, Cooper Parry, Claritas Tax, Continuum, RPL Advisory)
Dealmaker of the Year
Sponsored by BCF Equity Partners
Highly commended: Harry Walker, Dow Schofield Watts Corporate Finance
Winner: David Bains, LDC
A triple for LDC last night – PE house, Deal and now Dealmaker of the Year, Bains has achieved an exceptional 12 months, clearing nine transactions and taking the lead on deals such as Eagle Eye, Fire Doors Rite and Aquavista
Shortlisted:
Adam Huckerby, BGF
Amanda Betts, Provantage Corporate Finance
Anna Cattee, CMP Legal
Mark Hughes, Browne Jacobson
Morgan Atherton, Bishopsgate Corporate Finance
Pete Wood, Breeze Corporate Finance
Rob Burden, Clearwater
Seb Saywood, BGF