The Private Equity Awards | these awards recognise the very best achievements of individuals and firms working within venture capital and private equity.

hall of fame

The Hall of Fame recognises those individuals who have made an outstanding long-term contribution to the private equity industry in the UK. A shortlist has been prepared by the editor of Real Deals. Voting forms will then be distributed to the leading 500 executives in the UK private equity industry. Nominations are welcome and can be made in writing to the organisers or can be submitted via the entry form PDF availale on the 'how to enter' page of this this website up to the closing date of January 29, 2007. Voting forms will then be distributed. The results of the Hall of Fame election will be announced at the Awards ceremony.
2006 Inductees
Rhoddy Swire Pantheon Ventures and Sir Robert Smith formerly of Morgan Grenfell Private Equity
2005 Inductee
Robin Hall managing partner, Cinven Robin joined Cinven in 1981 from the British Technology Group. He was appointed Managing Partner in 1988. He has overall responsibility for the direction and development of Cinven’s activities. This includes defining corporate and investment strategy, and ensuring the necessary people and capital resources are available to secure the best investment opportunities for Cinven's clients.
2004 Inductees
Sir David Cooksey chairman, Advent Venture Partners Sir David Cooksey is one of the original leaders of the industry. Indeed, he was the founding chairman of the BVCA. His own career took him from metallurgy at Oxford to being an industrial engineer with De La Rue where he was given responsibility for manufacturing operations at Formica International. After steering through a management buy-out of a Formica subsidiary in 1971, he ran the resulting company for ten years, specialising in plastics for the engineering and medical devices industries. In 1981, he formed Advent Venture Partners. His was one of the first independent venture capital managers to be established in the United Kingdom. Over the past 23 years, he has been a constant and passionate advocate for entrepreneurship and for the UK’s capacity and need to create world-class companies in technological sectors.
Jonathan Blake partner, SJ Berwin Jonathan Blake graduated from Cambridge University in 1975. Ten years later, he became a partner in the firm with which he has become synonymous. Jonathan was the first lawyer to sit on the Council of the BVCA, and today he chairs the Tax and Legal Committee of the EVCA. Jonathan has played an extensive role in lobbying the industry and over the years, his commitment to - and influence upon - private equity policy issues has been remarkable. His authority, expertise and influence on investment funds, fund structuring and taxation has shaped the way in which the industry operates. He says that he “enjoys the creative side of solving problems and creating structures.” For that, we should all be thankful.
2003 Inductee
Roger Brooke founder, Candover Investments Beginning his early career with the Foreign Office. Roger was appointed deputy managing director of the Industrial Reorganisation Corporation in 1966 and between '69 and '71 was managing director of Scienta, a company involved in advanced technology businesses. For eight years he was a director of the Pearson Group and in June 1979 he became Group Managing Director of EMI. Less than a year later the company merged with Thorn and Roger was free to establish the organisation that he was to lead for the next 2 decades. In that time he served on many boards including holding the Chairmanship of Innisfree, Advent 2 VCT and Accord - and for 3 years he chaired the Audit Commission. In May 1999 he was appointed Honorary Life President of the Candover.
2002 Inductees
Sir Ronald Cohen founder, Apax Partners In 1981 Sir Ronald Cohen launched his firms first fund, raising Ł10m to focus on early stage high technology deals. Over the ensuing two decades, he has led the firm to become a world-class organisation and one of the industries acknowledged global leaders. He was one of the pioneers of the sectoral approach to investment and has assembled and managed a remarkable group of talented individuals. In a wider context, almost all of the principal initiatives concerning the industry carry his imprint as one of its founders - the BVCA itself, the EVCA and EASDAQ. Currently he is actively promoting the concept of community venturing: profitably investing commercial money in disadvantaged areas. Things could have been very different for this industry if he had been persuaded to stay in his original career of management consulting. "They said I'd do well if I stayed," he says. "But I always think that the view is better when you are closer to the precipice."
Jon Moulton founder, Alchemy Partners Jon Moulton began working in the insolvency division of Coopers & Lybrand, running bankrupt companies in Liverpool, before bumping into the nascent leveraged buy-out business while on secondment in New York. In his own words, "it was quite an arithmetic game and I've always been quite good at numbers." He came back to the UK in 1981 to join what was then Schroder Ventures. After a long stint there - and a rather shorter one at Apax - he did what he had been destined to do and started up his own house in 1997. The word "maverick" seems to have been invented for him. He has become one of the country's best-known financiers - particularly since his firm made its bid for the Rover Group. Never short of a quotable quote, he is in regular demand as a business speaker. "People tend to assume I have got a temper," he says. "I think that's because I tend to leap quickly into things. But sometimes I have to retreat quickly too."