Instant fame and a jeroboam of Chateau Teyssier 2001 are on the way to Richard Nourse of Merrill Lynch, winner of this year's competition at the Financial News Awards for Excellence in Private Equity.
Lunch guests were challenged to come up with a 30-second elevator pitch for a well-known product to present to venture capitalists. Nourse sold his invention, the telephone, like so: "Should work for 126 years until overtaken by the BlackBerry." Fame â but, alas, no wine â for runners-up Guy Hands from Terra Firma Capital Partners and Meyrick Cox from Rothschilds.
