We are pleased to share Freddie de Monte, James Nangle, Will Paraskeva, Kaif Shaji, and Michael Yu from the University of Leeds, as the winners of our sixth annual Private Equity Challenge.

Over 125 students took part in this years’ challenge from the University of Sheffield, University of Manchester, Aston University, Lancaster University, University of Leeds and the University of Liverpool.

Sessions were held over a period of several weeks, from February to April and featured discussions on value creation, corporate finance and due diligence. We also enlisted the support of several peers from the dealmaking community, including Deloitte, Houlihan Lokey, PwC, Catalysis and Shoosmiths to participate in the challenge and provide essential insights to participants.

Three teams made it to the final, which concluded with a final investment committee held at our Manchester head office. Teams included students from University of Leeds Union Trading & Investment Society, Manchester University Trading & Investment Society, and Lancaster University of Investment & Finance Society.

All teams were highly commended for their efforts with their presentations and case study investment appraisals, which were presented to a group of NorthEdge partners. However, after a lot of deliberation, the team from the University of Leeds were awarded first place.

The judges were particularly impressed with the winning team’s collaboration, strong group presentation skills and attention to detail. Each of the team will be offered the opportunity to attend a Board meeting alongside a NorthEdge investment director over the coming months.

Lucie Mills, Partner at NorthEdge said: “We’ve had five years of continued success with running the Private Equity Challenge and it’s fantastic to share our expertise and experience with finance students. The challenge is a great example of NorthEdge’s commitment to encouraging a more diverse set of talent into our industry. We believe we have an important part to play in building the next generation of talent for private equity and this challenge allows us to showcase the inner workings of the private equity market, alongside key factors for NorthEdge investment opportunities, including how a focus on people, culture and collaboration are key drivers for building better businesses.”