Pictured above: Phil Burns

Birmingham-based Clearwater Corporate Finance ("Clearwater") has scooped three awards in December, as the firm looks to 2011 with confidence in the UK and cross-border deal markets. 

Clearwater picked up the UK Financial Advisory Team of the Year gong at the ACQ Country Awards, as well as accolades at the M&A Atlas Awards for its advisory roles on Mibelle AG's cross-border acquisition of Bradford-based care products producer Hallam Beauty Limited, and the secondary buyout of XLN Telecom by ECI Partners.

ACQ Magazine's Country Awards recognises the key firms involved in M&A transactions around the world. 31,000 of the magazine's readers helped to pick nominated firms from various countries, with a panel of judges highlighting Clearwater as the leading financial advisory firm in the UK.

The M&A Atlas Awards honours the top deals, buyout teams and firms from the European deal making community. Winners were selected by a group of independent awards advisors.

Clearwater recently announced a 114 per cent increase in deal value and a 40 per cent increase in volume in the first six months of its financial year beginning April 2010, compared with the same period last year, having advised on 14 transactions worth £419m. 

Phil Burns, managing partner at Clearwater Corporate Finance in Birmingham, said: "Against challenging economic conditions, 2010 has been a fantastic year for us and these awards are the icing on the cake. It is fantastic to be recognised as one of the leading advisory teams in the UK, and it is a credit to our hard working team as well as our renowned deal origination strategy.

"Despite the impact government spending cuts will have on unemployment, we expect the deals market to continue to improve in 2011.Tax conditions for owners are extremely favourable, low cost credit is widely available to larger strategic buyers and pricing is improving. These factors should mean next year will prove to be a good time for entrepreneurs to unlock value in their businesses. 

"Discussions with our IMAP colleagues overseas leads us to believe that 2011 will see large corporates in Western Europe looking at strategic acquisitions in the UK. In addition, there is notable interest from Far Eastern companies, keen to gain a foothold in the European market. With this in mind, we expect to further increase the number of cross-border deals that we advise on in 2011."