They don't get out much in Nottingham.

Or so it would seem, judging by the breathless announcement by the corporate department of Berryman Shacklock that it 'completed an MBO in different time zones and against the clock' for an East Midlands telecoms business.

'With the help of IT and conference calling, we hit the deadline in spite of a distance of 10,000 miles and a different time zone separating two of the MBO team as they holidayed in Australia.' Or, in layman's terms, they used e-mail and the telephone to get the job done.

Pictured in the ritually humiliating post-deal pose is Berryman Shacklock's Katie Longstaff, together with the clients and other professional advisers.

(This article refers to images that appear in the printed edition [2004] Gazette, 4 March, page 12)