Thursday 26 November 2015 8:08 am

City A.M. Awards 2015: The City’s top talent comes out to play

Anyone who’s anyone in London’s corporate jungle came to St Paul’s last night for the sixth City A.M. Awards.

The blockbuster black tie-bash was attended by some of the UK’s biggest business icons, from business secretary Sajid Javid to PwC chair Ian Powell, joining together to celebrate the brightest personalities in the financial sector this year.

Even Investec’s famous zebra couldn’t cope with the fear of missing out, taking up prime position in the pre-dinner champagne reception.

The award for the most ecstatic table must go to Bernstein, who celebrated Bruno Monteyne’s Analyst of the Year gong by spraying their retail expert – and some of the neighbouring table – with Moet & Chandon. Who says decadence is dead?

Bosses at MasterCard also got in on the act, splashing out for extra bottles of bordeaux to celebrate the global payment giant’s award for Innovative Company of the Year.

They paid with plastic, naturally. Remember, City A.M.’s mantra is “business with personality”, and with that in mind an honourable mention to the most dedicated guest goes to Tony Pidgley, chairman and founder of Berkeley Group and City A.M.’s Personality of the Year.

When asked which course he enjoyed the most, The Capitalist was saddened to hear that the property boss hadn’t eaten at all.

Fortunately he still had fun. Pidgley added: “The tables looked magnificent though!” Now we may be biased, but each winner was very keen to thank City A.M. for its straight-talking style of reportage along with all the prizes.

According to Crowdcube’s Luke Lang, who picked up the firm’s prize for Explosive Growth Company of the year, City A.M. is a must read and puts on the best parties in town: “There’s a vibrant atmosphere, wonderful people, and just an all-round good celebration.” Awwww, thanks.

Trophies aside, the evening was a roaring, if raucous, success – if we may say so ourselves. Investor of the Year Cheryl Potter, from Permira, enthused:

“It’s great to get this huge group of like-minded people together for a party. The atmosphere has been fantastic and it’s great to be a winner.”

All in all, a great night. The Capitalist’s only regret is that Javid left before he could get a polaroid in the photo booths with the City A.M. team.