Leading UK law firm Mills & Reeve, headquartered in Cambridge, has been announced as new lead sponsor of the internationally-respected Business Weekly Awards.
The firm’s expertise complements the technology and international trade categories championed by the Awards, which honoured companies like ARM, Autonomy, CSR and CAT (now MedImmune) ahead of the curve.As lead sponsor, Mills & Reeve will be responsible for analysing each award entrant and reporting to the judging panel of top executives on a range of criteria.
The firm has a number of globally influential technology clients in its portfolio. It recently acted for Bango on a £3.25 million fundraising, which saw the Cambridge-based mobile web payments company’s share price rocket 10 per cent in a couple of hours.
It was just under a year ago that Mills & Reeve, which employs nearly 500 people in the East of England, advised on Cambridge’s first technology IPO in five-and-a-half-years.
The firm helped Ubisense to raise £8.6 million, which gave the real time location system company a market capitalisation of approximately £40 million when it was admitted to AIM.
In the international arena, the Mills & Reeve corporate team provided advice to the management team of iconic breakfast brand Weetabix on its £1.2 billion sale to Shanghai-based Bright Food earlier this month.
Ian Mather, head of Mills & Reeve’s Cambridge office, said: “The hall of fame highlighting world-class winners of Business Weekly Awards down the years show why, even in recession, the Cambridge Cluster stands apart from so many other international trade and technology centres.
“We’re genuinely thrilled to be joining Business Weekly in its quest to identify the next clutch of business champions and future generations of ‘killer’ companies.
“Our large corporate team leads the way by quite some distance in this region, advising businesses wherever they are in their lifecycle whether at start-up, VC funding, right through to the capital markets.
“Our technology team has close affiliation with the companies featured week in, week out in Business Weekly and 24/7 on Business Weekly’s internationally influential website, with our commercial lawyers advising a number of leading lights in the biotech, cleantech, media and gaming sectors.
“Through our work with these leading businesses we are determined to play a key role in the growth of the UK economy, working with businesses on an international scale.”
• PHOTOGRAPH SHOWS: Ian Mather
