Deloitte’s sector expertise has been rewarded with three HgCapital Rainmaker awards: the largest number of sector awards given to a single adviser.  The Rainmaker competition honours the most successful deal originators in the UK private equity mid-market.

Commenting on Deloitte’s success in the Rainmaker awards, Chris Ward, Head of Corporate Finance, said: “These awards are a testament to the value that industry sector expertise can add to corporate finance transactions.  We strongly believe that the best advice comes from a team with extensive market sector knowledge coupled with strong execution skills.”

This year three Deloitte teams were rewarded for exceptional dedication to their sectors.  These were:

Healthcare
David Jones, Director in the healthcare team, said: “The key fundamentals underpinning the sector - demographics, increasing GPD spend and heightened public awareness have proved extremely attractive to private equity investors, resulting in a number of high profile transactions, I’m pleased that Deloitte’s expertise in the this sector has been recognised by this award.”

Financial Services
Adam Daniels, Director in the financial services team, said: “The financial services sector is proving to be an increasingly attractive area for private equity investors. Large transactions highlighting this include AA and Saga. However, it is the mid market that is really driving the sector as a result of an increased understanding of the complexities of the space (including regulation) and the breadth of opportunities from lending to back office processes.  We are delighted that our sector knowledge and teamwork has been rewarded.”

Media
Chris Williams, Partner in the Media team, said: “We are really pleased to have won this award, in what have been challenging times for the media sector as a whole.  We are now operating in more positive market conditions, with increased corporate activity, and appetite from the financial community running at unprecedented levels.  Examples of this can be seen in areas such as TV production and radio where long expected activity has started to deliver.  There are still a number of challenges facing the media sector, however.  Notably the television networks need to rise to the challenges resulting from technical developments and an increasingly fragmented audience base.”

Ends

Notes to editor:

The HgCaptial Rainmaker Awards
The statistics for the awards are compiled by Initiative Europe, a leading independent provider of in-depth private equity information, based on data published in its “…unquote” newsletters.  All UK deals completed over five years with enterprise values of £40 million to £400 million qualify for inclusion. 
More information on the awards can be found at: http://www.hgcapital.net/rainmaker_139.html

About Deloitte
In this press release references to Deloitte are references to Deloitte & Touche LLP.

Deloitte & Touche LLP is the UK's fastest growing major professional services firm based in 21 UK locations, with over 10,000 staff nationwide and fee income of £1,246 million in 2003/2004. It is a member firm of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, a leading professional services organisation, delivering world class audit, tax, consulting and corporate finance services, with around 120,000 people in over 140 countries. Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu is a Swiss Verein, and each of its national practices is a separate and independent legal entity.

Deloitte & Touche LLP is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority.

The information contained in this press release is correct at the time of going to press.