TAIT Walker’s Corporate Finance team topped the financial advisor league for the North-East during 2013.

The team completed a total of 21 deals, with 13 included in the league table compiled by financial information provider Experian Corpfin.

Tait Walker has secured first place, leading second place KPMG by six deals.

The success marks a four year winning streak for Tait Walker for its annual volume of transactions, which has also seen the company top the table across six of the last seven years.

Tait Walker partner Michael Smith said: “It’s no coincidence that deals’ volume saw a 22 per cent increase across the region from 2012 – we’ve worked hard to ride on this wave of increasing levels of confidence within management teams.

“Activity levels have improved substantially in the past year bringing about lots of positivity towards the funding landscape. We have continued to invest in our Corporate Finance team throughout poor economic conditions, and now we’re beginning to see signs of recovery making this achievement even more rewarding.”

A highlight for Tait Walker included securing backing from two international investors for Newcastle solicitors' firm Winn Group in a deal worth £80m in September, to allow it to roll out its services nationally – creating lots of employment opportunities for the region going forward.

In another important deal, Newcastle-based Aartoft Limited – the UK’s only producer of lightweight concrete pre-fabricated bathrooms – received significant investment from three different types of funders. As advised by Tait Walker’s Michael Smith and Barry Gill, support for the project to expand its UK market presence came from The Finance for Business North East Growth Fund administered by regional NEL Fund Managers, Santander Bank and UK Export Finance.

Tait Walker was also successful in overseeing investment from FW Capital for Newton Aycliffe-based International Pipeline Products Ltd (IPPL). The funding meant that ambitious expansion plans could be put in place, doing much by way of attracting business to the North-East.

Mr Smith concluded: “We have remained a key player in the North-East corporate finance market for many years, forging strong relationships with banks, law firms, venture capitalists, and our ever-growing client base.

“We expect recent figures to act as a catalyst to spur continued investment in our region and encourage the manufacturing, engineering and renewables sectors to pick up pace throughout 2014, which stands us in great stead for the year ahead.”