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© Business Money Ltd 2006 |
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Turnaround Finance Group Awards Dinner16 November 2004 On 16 November, some 170 guest converged at the Great Eastern Hotel, Liverpool Street, for the 2004 Annual Turnaround Finance Group Awards Dinner. Business Money had been involved in the nominations this year and Bob and Ben Lefroy attended the event which turned out to be a great success and it wasn’t just the award winners who were in for a treat. It had been decided that the speaker would come before the meal and we were given a brief welcome by this year’s TFG chairman, Paul Beveridge, before Joe Simpson took the stage. Joe Simpson is a quite remarkable man whose story of endurance in some of the most gruelling conditions, whilst carrying a terrible injury, is an inspiration to us all. His book, Touching The Void, tells the whole thing in graphic detail and has gone on to become an international best seller. It has also been made into a film. For anyone not familiar with the story, Joe is a mountain climber. He and a friend got into terrible difficulty one time when having climbed a previously unconquered peak, Joe fell on the way down and broke his leg. Not ideal at the best of times, but when you are several thousand feet up an impossible mountain with just your mate, a bit of rope and a few spikes to keep you company, it really isn’t a good thing to have happen. Oh, and the food had also run out, it was about minus 60 with the wind chill, and the only other person that knew they were there didn’t know how to climb. Still, the whole leg incident wasn’t what spoilt Joe’s day. What really made him wish he’d taken the beach holiday instead was when his mate lowered him into a crevace, dropped him, cut the rope and went back to the tent. His account made for fascinating listening and by serving the meal after the presentation, we were able to empathise with the hunger aspect of the tale. Fortunately for guests, the air conditioning didn’t go as low as minus 60! The food was excellent and we then heard from Jon Borrill about a very worthy cause that The MacDonald Partnership is, with the help of donations from people in the industry, going to sponsor. In South Africa in a town called Mfuleni there lives a wonderful lady known as Mama Amelia. Each year she takes in children at her orphanage, feeding them, clothing them and caring for them as much as she is able with the minimal funds at her disposal. Children in her care do not have clothes of their own. Every day they choose from a huge pile of communal clothing that Mama Amelia has sourced from charities, bought or made, washes every day, dries and lays out for the 95 or so children that she currently cares for to take their pick. When they have worn them Mama Amelia washes them all over again and on it goes. She has the same number to provide with food. The same number to arrange medical care for should the need arise. The same number to love and tend to their every need. And she normally has the same number on the bank balance. No, I don’t mean 95, I just mean that the figure on the bank balance doesn’t change much either. I’ll give you a clue: there aren’t many noughts on the end. So what TMP is putting in place is a fund so that Mama Amelia can carry on with her good work. It is not supposed to replace the funding that she gets already, just to make her work and the lives of many children a bit more stable. The figure in question is £12,000 per year (or about £126 per child), which is what it costs to keep them. Every penny will be going straight to Mama Amelia. £11,760 was the figure raised after the TFG dinner but the generosity displayed by certain individuals and companies is not necessarily going to be forthcoming each year and what is needed is ongoing support from other quarters. Anyone who is interested in making a difference to a child’s life for future years and supporting the good work done by this wonderful lady should contact Jon Borrill at The MacDonald Partnership. Christmas is upon us and sponsoring a child makes for a far more interesting gift than socks. Why not give him a call now with your pledge? The awards followed, presented by Grant Jones of Haarmann Hemmelrath. The categories were for Best Debt Provider, Best Equity Provider and Best European Finance Provider. Of these, the most notable observation came about when Paul Hancock of Bank of America stepped up to receive the award for Best European Finance Provider. Bank of America has won an award now every year for the past six years. When questioned quite what was going to knock it off its perch, Paul quipped: “As we have seen from tonight’s presentation, it isn’t climbing the mountain that causes problems, it is getting down again”. Tempting fate perhaps? Steve Websdale accepted the award for Best Debt Provider on behalf of Venture Structured Finance and Paul Cartwright was presented with the award for Best Equity Provider for Rutland Partners, who were also nominated last year but failed to take home the silverware. The turnaround finance market is certainly gathering momentum with some high profile deals taking place and it will be interesting to see if the same names are on the winners list in 2005. Business Money would like to congratulate the award winners and extend thanks to Libby Aird-Brown for an excellent evening. Ben Lefroy
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