Shortlists announced for Scotland Dealmakers Awards 2026

The entries reflect a market that has kept moving through a difficult year for Scottish dealmaking.

International buyers remain drawn to Scottish businesses. Volaris Group's acquisition of Zonal, Lyft's purchase of TBR Global Chauffeuring and Karman Space & Defense's deal for Walker Precision Engineering are all in contention.

Technology and innovation run through this year’s shortlist, with Zonal in contention for the £50m-plus award, and Exergy3 and Connekt EV shortlisted in the sub-£10m category.

Life sciences and health technology also feature strongly, through Mironid's Series B financing and Bioliberty.

On the funding side, Kelvin Capital, PXN Ventures, Archangel Investors and STAC will contest Alternative Funder of the Year.

HNH Partners is shortlisted for Corporate Finance Advisory Team of the Year, and two of its people are up for individual awards namely Roger Mayor for Dealmaker of the Year and Sean Parr for Emerging Dealmaker of the Year.

AAB is also shortlisted for both its transaction services and its corporate finance advisory work.

The awards, run in partnership with Insider Media and The Scotsman, take place at DoubleTree by Hilton Glasgow Central on 11 November 2026, and tickets are on sale now.

The judging panel was chaired by Brian Aitken of Nevis Capital.

It included Craig Gallagher of Stronvar Aerospace, Paula Skinner of Harper Macleod, Jeff Corray of Piper Sandler, Andy Hall (ex-Barclays), Samantha O'Neill of KPMG, Lee Donaldson of LDC, Andrew Kerr of Weir Group, Graham Macdonald of Vaso Global, Deyrick Smith of Nationwide and Debbie Mayor of Grant Thornton.

The judging process was carried out over two days with all entries scored by judges, debated on shortlisting day before the judges split into groups to further assess entries.

On the final judging day, category winners were debated and decided by the group.

Conflicts were managed by chair Brian Aitken with judges that had a conflict, sitting out of the evaluation of affected categories.

Scotsman Insider editor Stephen Emerson said: "Dealmaking across the UK has been hard going this year, so it is great to see a record number of entries for the Scotland Dealmakers awards.

"It says a lot about the strength of Scotland's corporate finance community.

"I speak to the advisers, lawyers and funders behind these transactions every week, and the depth of expertise is exceptional.

"These awards are a chance to recognise the people who got deals done when it would have been easier to walk away.

"Deals are done by people who trust each other and work well together. On the evidence of this year's entries, Scotland is in very good shape."

This year's winners will go forward to Insider's 2027 UK Dealmakers Awards.

The event brings the leading regional winners together under one roof to crown the Champion of Champions.

Alternative Funder of the Year

Shortlist:

Archangel Investors

Kelvin Capital

Smart Things Accelerator Centre (STAC)

PXN Ventures

Deal of the Year (£10m-£50m)

Sponsored by Norman Broadbent

Shortlist:

BGF exits and reinvests alongside Growth Capital Partners in Optima Partners(Advisers: Growth Capital Partners, Clearwater, Addleshaw Goddard, BDO, Fairgrove, PwC Corporate Finance, Burness Paull, CMS, Dickson Minto, Garwood, RSM, Vista, EY-Parthenon, Confidas, Bridewell, Deloitte)

Foresight and Maven’s exit of FIS Chemicals(Advisers: Piper Sandler, Blackwood Partners)

Mironid $46m Series B Financing(Advisers: Bristows, DWF, The Scottish National Investment Bank, Roche Venture Fund, Epidarex Capital, Sofinnova Partners, BioGeneration Ventures (BGV), University of Strathclyde)

Sale of Tube Developments Limited to Buhlmann Group(Advisers: EY, Weightmans LLP, Cooper Parry, Wright, Johnston & Mackenzie LLP, KPMG)

Sale of Exceed (XCD) Holdings Limited to Kent(Advisers: Cooper Parry (formerly Hutcheon Mearns), Burness Paull, Johnston Carmichael, Deloitte, Square One Law)

Deal of the Year (Sub £10m)

Shortlist:

£8.4m Investment in Bioliberty(Advisers: MBM Commercial, CMS, AAB, Confidas, Candour, Ritchie McBride, Archangels, Eos, Old College Capital, Hanna Capital SEZC, Conduit Connect, Whiterock, Ballad Ventures, TGH Ventures)

Connekt EV Charging growth fund-raise(Advisers: HNH Partners, Burness Paull, Squire Patton Boggs)

Exergy3 Limited Investment(Advisers: MBM Commercial, Burness Paull, Burges Salmon, CMS)

Go Swag £3.7m Series A growth equity investment(Advisers: Harper Macleod, Lewis Silkin, Tughans, Philip Hare & Associates)

PXN Ventures' co-led seed investment into Quantcore(PXN Ventures, Scottish Enterprise, Blackfinch Ventures, STAC, Quantum Exponential, Addleshaw Goddard, Burness Paull, Confidas)

Sofant Technologies £6.25m funding round(Advisers: MBM Commercial, Harty and Smith, Kelvin Capital, EMV Capital Partners, Scottish Enterprise, National Security Strategic Investment Fund)

Deal of the Year (£50m+)

Shortlist:

Acquisition of stakes in Pentland Offshore Wind Farm(Advisers: Pinsent Masons LLP, Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe)

Freudenberg Flow Technologies acquisition of Balmoral Comtec(Advisers: Freeths, Blackwood Partners, Piper Sandler, EY)

Natwest acquisition of Evelyn Partners(Advisers: Ardea Partners, BofA Securities, UBS, Slaughter and May, Evercore, Goldman Sachs, Linklaters, Macfarlanes, PwC)

Sale of Zonal to Volaris Group(Advisers: Johnston Carmichael, DWF, Fox Williams, BDO, DUAL)

TBR Global Chauffeuring sale to San Francisco-based Lyft Inc.(Advisers: Dentons, Clearwater, Forvis Mazars, Baker McKenzie, Mori Hamada & Matsumoto)

International/National Deal of the Year

Sponsored by The Scottish National Investment Bank

Shortlist:

HAVN Capital's Investment in Spares in Motion BV(Advisers: IMAP Netherlands, Wikborg Rein, Stek, PJCZ, Cuatrecasas, Quantify Advisors)

Odfjell Technology acquisition of Kaseum Holdings Limited and RAZOR Oiltools Limited(Advisers: Pinsent Masons LLP, Burness Paull, Addleshaw Goddard, Piper Sandler, SB1 Markets)

Public listing of BLK Global(Advisers: Assiduous, Quest Corporate Ltd, Avenir Registrars Ltd)

Sale of Cyberhawk to Ondas Inc.(Advisers: Lincoln International, Reed Smith, Grant Thornton UK, BCG, Crosslake)

Sale of Scientific Beta for Singapore Exchange

(Advisers: CT Corporate Finance, Pinsent Masons, Brodies)

Weir Group PLC acquisition of Fast2Mine(Advisers: Demarest Advogados)

Private Equity/Venture Capital Deal of the Year

Sponsored by HSBC UK

Shortlist:

Sale of Walker Precision Engineering to Karman Space & Defense(Advisers: BGF, Kroll, CMS, KPMG, Browne Jacobson, Willkie Farr & Gallagher, Cynergy Bank)

LDC's investment in Nu-Style Products(Advisers: RSM, Burness Paull, AAB, Virgin Money)

Chiltern Capital investment into Xburo UK Ltd(Advisers: Azets, Gillespie Macandrew, Chiltern Capital)

Private equity investment by Activequity into Alliance Wine(Advisers: Azets, MFMac, Simmons & Simmons)

Graham + Sibbald investment from Foresight Group

(Advisers: EY, Burness Paull, Robertson Craig, AAB, Addleshaw Goddard, Dow Schofield Watts, PMSI Strategy, Catalysis Advisory, Vista Insurance, Abstract Group, Barclays)

Emerging Dealmaker of the Year

Shortlist:

Anthony Kelly, Scottish National Investment BankConor Adamson, Henderson LoggieGeorge Wait, EY Corporate FinanceHarry Staples, Foresight GroupSarah Dick, Addleshaw GoddardSean Parr, HNH Partners

Corporate Law Firm of the Year

Sponsored by Nationwide

Shortlist:

Addleshaw Goddard

Burness Paull LLP

CMS

Dentons

Macdonald Henderson Limited

Pinsent Masons LLP

Dealmaker of the Year

Shortlist:

Campbell Cummings, Johnston Carmichael LLP

Daniel Halliday, Foresight Group

Gordon Burns, Azets

Richard Pugh, BGF

Roger Mayor, HNH Partners

Transaction Services Team of the Year

Sponsored by Lockton Companies LLP

Shortlist:

AAB

EY

KPMG

PwC

Quantify Advisors

RSM UK

Corporate Finance Advisory Team of the Year

Sponsored by James Hambro & Partners

Shortlist:

AAB

Azets

EY Corporate Finance

HNH Partners

Johnston Carmichael LLP

Bank/Funder of the Year

Sponsored by PIB Insurance Brokers

Shortlist:

Barclays Bank Plc

OakNorth

Royal Bank of Scotland

Virgin Money