Voting is now open and the deadline is 5pm on Wednesday 16 September.  Below is an extract from our submission.  We would love to win this award and would be extremely grateful if you cast a vote for us here.

Here is an extract from our submission:

Arguably our most successful year began with the final close of WestBridge II, raising £140 million (40% above target) and ended with our fifth WB II deal, a buy and build platform transaction, completed in the midst of national lockdown.

Over the year we completed two exits, two investments, two senior hires and opened an office in Manchester.  We ended the year having completed five of the ten planned WB II transactions and invested just over 40% of that fund.

The sale of Linkfresh and ISG Technology increased WB I’s DPI to over 1.5x and resulted in the first carried interest payment.  Despite both businesses facing challenging trading periods, they were sold well to buyers for strategic premia.

During the year we also finalised our senior team.  We recruited Peter Barkley to lead our activity in the North and are now a well-known and respected investor in that region.  Rebecca Sinclair also joined us from HSBC Corporate Banking, where she was very much a rising star.  Finally, industry veteran Sandy Smart retired from our business.

We completed our largest transaction to-date with Aptus Utilities and also the management buyout of Bespoke Health & Social Care, during the Covid-19 pandemic.