News
LDC collects four awards at Insider’s North East Dealmakers Awards 2025
26 Sep 2025
The Newcastle-based team took home Private Equity Firm of the Year and Emma Borrie was crowned Emerging Dealmaker of the Year. The team also won Deal of the Year (£20m+) for the merger of Connect Health and Healthshare, and Deal of the Year (£5m – £20m) for Aspire’s acquisition of CloudCoCo.
The Awards took place last night at Hilton Newcastle Gateshead and were compered by Paul Sinha.
During the qualifying period, LDC’s North East & Scotland team completed 13 transactions with a combined value of c. £600m, including the exit and reinvestment of Lomond Group following a transformational growth journey. The judges were particularly impressed with the team’s market-leading activity and continuous commitment to the region, working with local advisors to complete complex and ambitious transactions.
Emma Borrie was praised by the judges as being, “A trusted board adviser and deal originator, representing the future of private equity in the region and was the stand-out candidate for Emerging Dealmaker”. Emma played a key role in the merger of Connect Health, an NHS-focused provider of outsourced musculoskeletal services, with Healthshare, an independent healthcare provider, to form Cora Health. She was also an integral part of the team that led LDC’s exit and reinvestment in Lomond, and in the nine strategic acquisitions Lomond made during the qualifying period.
The judges praised the merger of Connect Health and Healthshare for its scale and significance, calling it “A strategic partnership that unites two major healthcare providers and will significantly improve patient experience and clinical outcomes in the North East and across the UK.”
In November 2024, LDC supported Aspire, one of the UK’s leading IT managed service and cyber security providers, in its acquisition of managed service provider CloudCoCo Limited. This marked a strategic advancement in Aspire’s plan to expand its UK presence and strengthen its services, with the judges particularly impressed that the acquisition will bring approximately £10m in additional revenue and approximately 300 new customers to the business.
LDC extends its congratulations to all of the companies and individuals that won awards or were shortlisted at this year’s Insider North East Dealmakers Awards. You can view the full list of winners here.