Having trouble seeing this email? View online.
To ensure delivery to your inbox, please add mergersunleashed@e.mergersunleashed.com to your address book.
Click here for instructions on how to add mergersunleashed.com to your address book.

About Merger Mogul | Subscribe | Sign up for FREE now! | Manage My Account | Advertise with us

cwdowner

Award Season Officially Begins

We’re already two months into the New Year, and considering the market in 2008, I’m sure few people want to look back. As it stands right now, however, 2009 isn’t shaping up to be much better. So what’s a deal pro to do? My suggestion would be to embrace the small victories and just keep plugging away until the market turns.

With this in mind, we’re about to embark on our M&A Mid-Market Awards, celebrating the best deals and dealmakers. I would say this qualifies as a big victory for those who win, but we’ll leave that for the winners to decide.

We have altered the format a bit, enabling us to recognize other areas in the deal world that are worthy of recognition. The categories this year include:

Deal of the Year
Sale of the Year
M&A Pro of the Year
Private Equity Firm of the Year
Strategic Buyer of the Year
Adviser of the Year
Lender of the Year
Law Firm of the Year

We’re also eschewing the typical ceremony in favor of a panel at InterGrowth on May 12. The panel will be comprised of select award winners, who will provide their take on the M&A market. It promises to be much more engaging for both the audience and the winners than the awkward Lucite handoffs. The winners will also be featured in our May issue of Mergers & Acquisitions Journal.

When it comes to submissions, I would stress that we always prefer as much detail as possible, but please don’t drown us in fluff. We’re looking for purchase prices, capital structures, the key players involved, and, of course, the story behind the deal. Any anecdotes that add color can also help inspire the judges.

For your reference, any cliché alluding to “industry leaders” or “sweet spots” would qualify as fluff, whereas a colorful anecdote would be the story from the deal that’s compelling enough to tell your friends outside of M&A.

More information can be found at our website, www.mergersunleashed.com. Please email me any submissions, with the subject line: M&A Awards. The deadline for submission is Friday, February 20, although I would urge people to get them in as soon as possible.

As always, if you have any questions or thoughts, please don’t hesitate to reach out.

Thanks,

Ken MacFadyen
ken.macfadyen@sourcemedia.com

ACG

Connecting Capital to Opportunity.


February 18, 2009 — ACG Silicon Valley “Engaging an Investment Banker: What Works & Why?”
Save the date for this enlightening session on best practices in the investment banking world. A panel of financial gurus, moderated by Jim Chapman of Nixon Peabody, will discuss the role of the investment banker in this new economic era. This event will take place at the Fremont Hills Country Club in Los Altos from 7:30– 9:00 a.m. .

February 18-19 , 2009 — ACG Dallas/ Ft. Worth Capital Connection
Register now for the Southwest’s most important private equity and corporate growth conference. Taking place at the Fairmont Hotel in Dallas, this Capital Connection will feature, among others, such key speakers as David Faber of CNBC and David Sargent of Growth Capital Partners L.P. Don’t miss this opportunity to network with the nation’s leading sources of private equity and debt capital, and to stay current with middle-market M&A!

February 19, 2009 — ACG Connecticut Emerging Professionals Cocktail Party;
Join ACG Connecticut’s under-35 crowd for a memorable evening of cocktails and light networking from 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. This party will take place at the Provençal-inspired L’Escale Restaurant in Greenwich, and will provide the perfect opportunity to mingle with other emerging analysts, associates, and VP-level professionals. Please register soon!