The M&A Advisor is the preeminent organization honoring achievement, presenting thought leadership, and facilitating connections among the world’s leading dealmaking professionals. The M&A Advisor honors and spotlights the very best in dealmaking. We’ve been doing it for two decades. Our Awards programs recognize the most accomplished deal professionals and their work.

The 14th Annual International M&A Awards – the benchmark for dealmaking excellence among organizations with a multi-national presence – will recognize the leading Professionals, Firms, Transactions, Restructurings, Financings, and Products and Services. Cross-border transactions as well as intra-country deals with significant international aspects will be recognized.

IMPORTANT CRITERIA

While a transaction must have an international element, transactions do not need to be cross border to qualify. Cross Border deals do indeed qualify, but so do deals involving multinational corporations or other international stakeholders, as well as deals that result in enhanced international market presence or capabilities. There is no requirement that one of the parties is a US company.

• Minimum value of $10 million USD
• M&A transaction, financing, or restructuring concluded between December 1, 2021 and January 31, 2023
• Firms, product/services, and/or professionals must have been active internationally in  2022

The 2023 awards will also recognize the steadily growing ranks of international firms and professionals whose efforts are positively affecting international expansion through restructuring, financing, and M&A

A. SUBMISSION DEADLINES

*NEW* FINAL NOMINATION DEADLINE: Thursday, June 1, 2023 4:00pm Eastern
Note: the Final submission deadline has recently changed from May 18th to June 1st. Each nomination submitted after the regular deadline of April 27th will incur a $100 late fee.

B. AWARD CATEGORIES

Submit nominations in the following classifications:

1. Firm Award Category

• Accounting/Due Diligence Firm of the Year
• Boutique Investment Banking Firm of the Year
• Investment Banking Firm of the Year
• Law Firm of the Year
• Lender Firm of the Year
• Valuation Firm of the Year
• Communications Firm of the Year
• Strategic Corporation of the Year
• Private Equity Firm of the Year
• Consulting Firm of the Year

2. Professional Award Category  

• Corporate Development Professional of the Year
• Investment Banker of the Year
• Legal Advisor of the Year
• Lender Professional of the Year
• Private Equity Professional of the Year
• Service Professional of the Year

3. Product/Service Award Category  

• Product/Service of the Year

EACH NOMINATED DEAL MAY BE SUBMITTED IN MULTIPLE CATEGORIES FROM AMONG THE FOLLOWING:

4. M&A Transaction Award Category

• M&A Deal of the Year
• Corporate/Strategic Deal of the Year (transaction must be a corporate acquisition or divestiture)
• Cross Border Deal of the Year (buyer and seller must be domiciled in different countries)
• Private Equity Deal of the Year (must be a private equity acquisition or private equity sale)

5. Deal Financing Award Category  

• Deal Financing of the Year

6. Restructuring Award Category  

• Restructuring Deal of the Year

7. Sector Award Category

• Consumer Discretionary Deal of the Year Sub-sectors include: Retailing; Media; Consumer Services; Casino; Apparel; Consumer Durables; Automobile and components
• Consumer Staples Deal of the Year Sub-sectors include: Food Retail; Food Distributors; Agriculture; Drug Retail; Hypermarkets and Super Centers; Food; Beverages; Tobacco; House and Cleaning Products/Supplies; Baby, Dental, Family and/or Feminine Products
• Energy Deal of the Year Sub-sectors include: Energy Equipment; Energy Services; Oil; Gas; Consumable Fuels; Coal
• Financials Deal of the Year Sub-sectors include: Banks; Insurance; Real Estate; Diversified Financial Services; Capital Markets
• Healthcare/Life Sciences Deal of the Year Sub-sectors include: Healthcare Equipment and Services; Pharmaceuticals, Biotechnology and Life
• Industrials Deal of the Year Sub-sectors include: Aerospace and Defense; Engineering; Construction; Electrical Equipment; Industrial Conglomerates; Machinery; Trading Companies; Distributors; Commercial Printing; Environmental Services; Office Services; Office Supplies; Security and Alarm Services; Transportation
• Information Technology Deal of the Year Sub-sectors include: IT Services; Internet; Software; Software Services; Technology Hardware and Equipment; Technology Storage; Radio and Television Broadcasting Equipment; Semiconductors
• Materials Deal of the Year Sub-sectors include: Chemicals; Construction Materials; Containers Packaging; Metals; Mining; Paper; Forest Products
• Professional Services (B-to-B) Deal of the Year (includes business to business services across different sectors and sub-sectors)
• Telecommunication Services Deal of the Year Sub-sectors include: Broadband Telecommunications; Satellite Communications; Wireless Communications
• Utilities Deal of the Year Sub-sectors include: Electric Utilities; Gas Utilities; Water Utilities; Independent Power; Renewable Electricity Producers

8. Regional Award Category  

• Regional Deal of the Year (Regions include: Africa; Asia; Europe; Middle-East; North America – United States; North America – Outside United States; Oceania (Australia and surroundings); other)

C. QUALIFYING CRITERIA

General Nomination Criteria

• a. There are no limits on the number of nominations submitted
  b. A separate nomination form must be submitted for each category group (M&A Transaction, Restructuring, Deal Financing, Sector and/or Regional Deals, Product/Service, Firm, and Professional)
  c. Nominations must be submitted electronically using this online form only.
  

Specific Category Nomination Criteria

a. To qualify for M&A Transaction of the Year, Restructuring Deal of the Year, Deal Financing of the Year, Sector and/or Regional Deal of the Year, the deal must adhere to the following criteria:
•  The deal must have a minimum value of $10mm USD
•  The deal must have been concluded between December 1, 2021, and January 31, 2023

Deals should have one or more international aspect(s)

b. To qualify for Firm of the Year, the nominated organization must be active internationally
c. To qualify for Product/Service of The Year the product or service must be used internationally
d. To qualify for Professional of the Year, the individual must be active internationally

D. NOMINATION FEES

There is a nominal processing fee charged for all nominations. The fee is comprised of these components: 1. A base fee of $225 will be charged for processing each nomination 2. An additional fee of $95 will be incurred per category

E. NOMINATION SUBMISSION PROCESS

There are multiple ways a deal, firm, product/service or professional can be nominated:
(a) self-nominations;
(b) nominated by your colleague; or
(c) client nominations.

The process for submission is as follows:
a. Create an account to manage your nomination submissions. Once you have created an account, you may enter the data at your convenience. Please be advised, once you remit payment, no further changes can be made.
b. Prepare a nomination form for each of the Award Categories and transactions that you wish to submit. The Award Categories are: Restructuring; M&A Transaction; Refinancing; Sector; Firm; Turnaround Product/Service and Professional.
c. The following information will be required to complete each submission:
Contact information for Nominator; Nominee; Marketing; Media and Communication representatives Name of the transaction; refinancing; restructuring; firm; product/service and professional nominated Nomination categories.
Each transaction can qualify for multiple award categories.
Detailed profile of the transaction/refinancing/restructuring/product/service/firm or professional specific information Links that can provide more information about the nominated transaction, professional, firm or individual For transaction, refinancing, and restructuring categories you will also be asked to provide the date the deal was completed/closed, deal value or value range and deal team members
d. Create an account and prepare your entries here
e. To complete the submission you will provide credit card information for payment

F. JUDGING PROCESS

The M&A Advisor uses the research services to access both real-time and historical information on companies, markets, deals, and people that are represented in the nomination submissions. An independent committee of M&A, restructuring and refinancing industry business leaders will judge all nominations. The judging will be conducted in a secure datasite using exclusive and trusted technology to ensure that all eligible nominations are processed and evaluated securely and confidentially.

Judging Criteria

a. M&A transaction, restructuring, deal financing, sector and/or regional deals, submissions will be judged on the following criteria:
• Deal profile (25% of the score)
• Deal challenges (25% of the score)
• Deal benefits (25% of the score)
• International scope (20% of the score)
• Adherence to nomination form instructions and to the 250-word limit for each question (5% of the score)

b. Firm submissions will be judged on the following criteria:

• Firm’s profile (15% of the score)
• Firm’s unique attributes and. industry impact (40% of the score)
• Firm’s deal activity (40% of the score)
• Adherence to nomination form instructions and to the 250 word limit for each question (5% of the score)

c. Product/Service submissions will be judged on the following criteria:

• Product/Service’s profile (30% of the score)
• Product/Service’s benefits and unique attributes (35% of the score)
• Product/Service’s market share, growth trajectory, and industry impact (30% of the score)
• Adherence to nomination form instructions and to the 250 word limit for each question (5% of the score)

d. Professional of the Year submissions will be judged on the following criteria:

• Professional’s profile (30% of the score)
• Professional’s activity (35% of the score)
• Professionals’ unique attributes and industry impact (30% of the score)
• Adherence to nomination form instructions and to the 250 word limit for each question (5% of the score)

G. CONFIDENTIALITY

The M&A Advisor and its independent judges will maintain the strictest confidentiality possible for all information provided. Upon the selection of Award Winners, only the transaction name, product/service name, dealmaker, and firm names will be publicized. While there may be a dollar range specified for transaction, refinancing and restructuring award categories, the actual value will not be published at any time.