The first edition of the IJInvestor Awards took place tonight (Thursday 21 November) in the spectacular, historic royal palace of Banqueting House in Whitehall, London.

The winners of the best acquisitions and company prizes for the financial year of 2018/19 were awarded in front of a room full of fund managers, institutional investors and their advisers.

And it was these players that this new awards programme sought to commend for their work in raising and deploying capital into operational assets at a global level.

Recruitment agency One Search sponsored the event and took part in the ceremony.

The IJInvestor Awards also introduced two individual awards that are new to the IJGlobal awards range, those for:

• Outstanding Individual
• Rising Star

Deborah Zurkow, global head of investments at Allianz Global Investors, picked up the award for Outstanding Individual, having been recognised by the judging panel as one of the main advocates of establishing infrastructure as a separate asset class and driving force behind getting institutional capital invested in it.

Mounir Corm, deputy CEO of Vauban Infrastructure Partners, was crowned Rising Star by recruitment agency One Search which sponsored the category. The judges commended him for the breadth of achievements during the past year, beyond striking impressive deal terms.

These winners and those of the best acquisitions and companies awards were picked by a panel of independent industry experts in a closed voting session.

The winners for the best transactions and acquisitions of the year are:

• Best Asset Performance – Groupe Coriance
• Best Refinancing – Cerro Dominador
• Best Restructuring – EVM Energia HoldCo
• Best Utilities Acquisition – Proxiserve
• Best Oil & Gas Acquisition – BridgeTex Pipeline Company
• Best Transport Acquisition – Indigo Group
• Best Telecoms Acquisition – TDC Group
• Best Renewables Acquisition – Veja Mate Offshore Project
• Best Social Infrastructure Acquisition – John Laing Infrastructure Fund

The winners of the best company categories are:

• Best Investment Consultant – bfinance
• Best Placement Agent – Campbell Lutyens
• Best Legal Adviser – Linklaters
• Best Debt Fund Manager – AMP Capital
• Best Equity Fund Manager – EQT Partners

The winners of the individual categories were:

• Rising Star – Mounir Corm, Vauban Infrastructure Partners
• Outstanding Individual – Deborah Zurkow, Allianz Global Investors

The shortlisted candidates for the Rising Star category were:

• Gonzague Boutry – director - infrastructure, Ardian
• Mounir Corm – deputy CEO, Vauban Infrastructure Partners
• Devina Parasuraman – associate director, First State Investments

Congratulations to all the winners and a warm thanks to last night's attendees who helped IJInvestor made this event possible.