The M&A Advisor announced finalists for the 12th Annual M&A Advisor Awards in the categories of M&A Deal of the Year, Restructuring Deal of the Year, Cross-Border Deal of the Year, Corporate/Strategic Acquisition of the Year, Deal Financing of the Year, Sector Deal of the Year, Firms of the Year, M&A Product/Service of the Year and M&A Professionals of the Year.

The finalists were selected from the nominees in the first stage of evaluation, and independent panel of judges will now focus their attention on the challenging task of selecting the ultimate award winners that will be announced at the Awards Gala on December 17 at the New York Athletic Club.

“Since the inception of the M&A Advisor Awards in 2002, we have been recognizing the leading dealmakers, firms and transactions. And each year we celebrate the creativity, perseverance and ingenuity of our industry’s professionals,” says David Fergusson, president of The M&A Advisor. “While our industry has undergone significant transformation since our first awards were presented 11 years ago, we are convinced, more than ever before, that investment in middle market companies will continue to be the driving force of the economy. It is truly an honor for our firm to be able to recognize the contribution that the 2013 award finalists have made.”

This year’s finalists represent many of the industry’s leading firms, including: Morgan Stanley, Headwaters MB, News Corporation, Berkshire Hathaway, Morrison & Foerster, Rothschild, Baird, Generational Equity, Goldman Sachs & Co., FTI Consulting, J.P. Morgan Securities, The Blackstone Group, Soros Fund Management, BB&T Capital Markets, Cerberus Capital Management, Capstone Partners, Barclays Capital, Raymond James Financial, Credit Suisse, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp., NASDAQ OMX, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, and Lazard Freres & Co.

They feature many of the year’s leading transactions including: acquisition of Skippy peanut butter; sale of Consorcio Comex, S.A. de C.V. to The Sherwin-Williams Company; acquisition of YES Network Equity Stake by News Corp., acquisition of Pfizer’s Infant Nutrition Business by Nestle’s, acquisition of a stake in Nephila Capital by KKR, acquisition of N-able Technologies by Solarwinds, acquisition of a 78% stake in Sprint Nextel Corporation by SoftBank Corp., acquisition of Thomson Reuters Property Tax Services by Ryan and acquisition of BrightPoint by Ingram Micro.

For a detailed list of all the Award Finalists by category, click here.