Most mister-ious deal: City firm Berwin Leighton Paisner acted for Chorion on its 28 million acquisition of Mister Men and Mister Films, as well as a 16.5 million placing.

Chorion acquired the rights to all of Roger Hargreaves' works, including the 46 Mister Men and 33 Little Miss characters.

National firm Addleshaw Goddard advised vendors The Hargreaves Organisation, while Dorking firm Downs acted for Mister Films, owner of the film rights.

Skimpiest deal: Regional firm Laytons advised Bank of Scotland on the 4.3 million management buy-out of Leicestershire-based lingerie manufacturer Simon Jay.

Bristol firm Burges Salmon acted for the management while Ewart Price in Hertfordshire advised the vendors.

Most on-track deal: Osborne Clarke in Bristol advised National Express Group on the operation of its rail franchise for the Greater Anglia region.

National Express's subsidiary, London Eastern Railway, will operate all trains from London's Liverpool Street station, under the first franchise to be awarded by the Strategic Rail Authority (SRA) under its new template.

City firm Eversheds advised the SRA.

Most adventurous deal: ASB Law in Crawley advised First Choice Holidays on its double acquisition of The Adventure Company and Trina Group for more than 7 million.

The Adventure Company, owned by Travelbag, offers holidays to North Africa, South America and south-east Asia, while Trina Group provides accommodation and excursions to tourists visiting the UK.

Lamport Bassitt in Southampton acted for Travelbag while Raybould & Co in London represented Trina Group.

Most educational deal: The Projects Partnership in London advised the London Borough of Waltham Forest on a 30-year private finance initiative for the design, operation and maintenance of eight schools.

The 60 million project will be run by Academy Services (Waltham Forest), advised by CMS Cameron McKenna in the City.

Rachel Rothwell