31 Peter Hansen partner, Sapient Corporate Finance (31) Jim Fallon managing director, McQueen (new entry)
Why they're on the list:
Hansen's outfit, Sapient Corporate Finance, is the sector's pre-eminent dealmaker. Since 2003, it has advised on more completed transactions in this sector than any other corporate finance adviser: 26 transactions worth £5.9bn. Fallon set up the HSBC Corporate Finance leisure team in 1998. He has advised Marston's, Fuller's, Hilton and Punch Taverns since the formation of McQueen.
What the past year has held:
Sapient has sold New Century Inns to Greene King and is in the process of advising Churchill Taverns on its options with a sale thought to be in the offing. It also advised Geronimo Inns on its refinancing with Penta Capital. Fallon has been advising Sandpiper CI on the sale of its estate of 65 Channel Island pubs to private equity investors LGV Capital for a rumoured £70m.
Challenges ahead:
Major deal-making seems to have taken a breather since the credit- crunch began last summer. Smaller deals do seem to be making their way through the system. The hope will be for a lifting of debt market conditions to allow slightly more ambitious deals later this year.
