Wales top dealmakers name sale of Gocompare among favourite deals
The most prominent figures in Welsh deal-making said the sale of Gocompare among their favourite deals during the last decade. The company was sold to Esure in December 2014.

Wales Deals Stephen Farrell

The most active legal and corporate finance advisers in the Welsh dealmaking community over the past ten years have been revealed by Insider.

The data has been compiled for a feature in the latest edition of the Wales Business Insider, which also includes interviews with some of Wales' top dealmakers.

The figures, sourced from Experian, showed that Gambit Corporate Finance was the most active adviser with 48 reported deals between 1 July 2006 and 15 July 2016, ahead of Grant Thornton on 46 and Deloitte on 38.

Geraint Rowe, partner at Gambit Corporate Finance and Insider's Welsh Dealmaker of the Year in 2005 and 2015, named the acquisition of Cardiff City FC by Vincent Tan as the key deal for his firm during the period.

EY achieved the highest value, advising on £2.4bn worth of transactions followed by Grant Thornton on £1.65bn and Deloitte on £648m.

The most active legal adviser during between 2006 and 2016 was Eversheds with 66 deals. Next up was Acuity Legal and Blake Morgan with 50 and 49 transactions respectively.

DLA Piper led the table based on reported values with £2.05bn worth of transactions, followed by Hill Dickinson on £1.63bn and Eversheds on £989m.

Eversheds partner Paul Pugh named the founding of Ryder Cup Wales, set up to promote Wales' bids for the 2010 matches, as his best deal.

Looking ahead, he said: "Brexit will undoubtedly have an impact. Whereas the exact nature of the legal settlement will not be clear for some time, it is likely that corporates will need to trade with commercial partners from further afield."

A number of Wales' top dealmakers named the sale of Gocompare among their favourite deals during the decade. The company was founded in 2006 by Hayley Parsons who sold her remaining stake to Esure in December 2014.

The data also showed that 2007 recorded the greatest number of deals with 193, while the highest value was achieved in 2008 at £5.05bn.

As of 15 July 2016, 99 deals had been completed so far this year, with a combined value of £674m.

The full feature can be found in the August/September edition of the Wales Business Insider, out now. The shortlist of the 2016 Welsh Dealmakers Awards has also recently been revealed.