The corporate team at Womble Bond Dickinson (WBD) has won the Corporate Law Firm of the Year and Private Equity Deal of the Year awards at the 2022 North East Dealmakers Awards, held last night (29 September). The event celebrates the region's leading corporate lawyers, financiers, accountants, bankers, funders and M&A professionals and the successes of North East dealmaking activity.

Ranked top in the North East by deal value in Experian's league table and M&A report, WBD's Newcastle corporate practice has worked on and completed a large number of deals across a full spectrum of sectors in the region, with values ranging from £500,000 to in excess of £500 million. The team handles a broad range of corporate transactions, with strong specialism in M&As, IPOs, MBOs joint ventures, private equity investments as well as growth and development capital fundraisings.

Highlights of the past year include advising Atom Bank, the UK’s first bank built exclusively for mobile, on a series of investments; the investment led by Calculus Capital in Notify Technology; and advising longstanding client LDC, the UK's leading mid-market private equity firm, on its significant minority investment in award winning IT Managed and Internet Service Provider Aspire Technology Solutions, which won Private Equity Deal of the Year.

Ben Butler, who leads the corporate team in Newcastle, commented: 

"Last night highlights what has been a very successful year for WBD's corporate practice and demonstrates our continued commitment to the North East and the exciting and fast-growing businesses we work with and support.

"Over the past year we've advised on deals with a value totalling around £1.2 billion, strengthening our position as a legal powerhouse for M&A work and wider corporate transactions here in the region and across the UK."

WBD's national corporate practice is highly ranked in the 2022 legal directories. In the Legal 500 guide, released yesterday (29 September), the team retained its Band 1 ranking for corporate work and six Newcastle corporate lawyers were ranked on an individual basis, with Ben Butler and Iain Pritty noted as being "Leading Individuals", Stacey Hall as a "Next Generation Partner", Oliver Rickett and David Ridley as "Rising Stars" and Robert Phillips featured in the "Hall of Fame". Clients describe WBD as a 'very strong practice' and a 'very friendly, personable and able team' that is 'open to challenge'.