Most purposeful deal: City firm Lewis Silkin advised The Mission Marketing Group on its admission to the Alternative Investment Market, the acquisition of Bray Leino for £25 million and a £10 million credit facility from the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS). The group is a regionally based advertising and marketing business. Devon firms Slee Blackwell and Openshaws advised the selling shareholders of Bray Leino, UK firm McGrigors acted for the broker Seymour Pierce, and Bristol-based Osborne Clarke advised RBS.

Most fashionable deal: City giant Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer is advising department store group Debenhams on its planned initial public offering (IPO) on the London Stock Exchange. The price range of the IPO - between £1.7 billion and £2 billion - would make it the largest in Europe so far this year. Clifford Chance is acting for private equity house CVC, US firm Shearman & Sterling is advising Merrill Lynch Private Equity, and City firm Ashurst is advising the banks.



Thirstiest deal: North-west and London firm Hill Dickinson advised logistics business Kuehne & Nagel on a joint venture with brewing group Scottish & Newcastle (S&N). Under the arrangements, Kuehne & Nagel will provide all S&N's UK distribution activities for an initial ten-year period. Scottish firm Shepherd & Wedderburn advised S&N, while City firm Allen & Overy acted for funder Lloyds TSB.


Most defined deal: The London office of US firm McDermott Will & Emery advised Paternoster, the first life insurer to be launched in the UK for 30 years, on its start-up. Paternoster has secured £500 million of equity financing from a consortium led by Deutsche Bank and Eton Park International, advised by Freshfields. Paternoster will provide products for the £1,000 billion UK defined pensions market-place.


Most environmental deal: Birmingham and London firm Wragge & Co advised Hyder Consulting on its acquisitions of environmental consultancy Cresswell Associates for £3.5 million and land development and structural engineers business Bettridge Turner & Partners for a similar sum. Cheltenham firm Rickerbys advised the Cresswell sellers, while Watford firm Matthew Arnold & Baldwin acted for the sellers of Bettridge Turner.


Most painless deal: National firm Pinsent Masons advised shareholders in Integrated Dental Holdings, the UK's largest NHS dentistry business, on the sale of a significant stake to Legal & General Ventures (LGV) for an undisclosed sum. City firm CMS Cameron McKenna acted for LGV.