Icelandic food firm Bakkavor's £629 million purchase of grocery supplier Geest was last night named Birmingham Post Deal of the Year.
An international flavour permeated this year's awards, with overseas ventures by other companies recognised by the judges.
Other winners included the purchase of Cannock-based wire firm Electrium by German electronics giant Siemens and Hampson Industries making more acquisitions in America.
John Pratt, chairman of the judging panel and senior partner at Hamilton Pratt, said the size and variety of the deals under consideration was greater than ever before.
This year's competition showed how Birmingham could compete with London when it came to professional advice and services.
Mr Pratt said: "The size of these deals would excite professionals in the City of London. Meanwhile, business is also becoming increasingly international and we are seeing the results of that.
"We are seeing West Midland companies acquiring firms overseas and there are also incoming deals for people looking to invest in our businesses.
"From this we are seeing foreign businesses being entirely comfortable with the cost, expertise and advice which is a vailable in the Midlands.
"They don't come with the baggage that you must use the City of London, which bodes very well for the future."
The winners were awarded their prizes at a ceremony at the Burlington Hotel in Birmingham yesterday.
Mr Pratt said the sheer size of the Bakkavor acquisition and the fact it was almost exclusively advised in Birmingham helped it win the top prize.
The enlarged group has sales of more than £1 billion and controls 11 per cent of Britain's fresh food market.
He said: "It was one of the biggest deals we looked at; there aren't many which are bigger than £600 million.
"The scale of it showed that Birmingham can handle this size of transaction."
Hampson Industries won the Merger & Acquisition award for the second year running, for its £62.3 million purchase of Lamsco West and West Coast Composites in America.
Mr Pratt said: "This is an example of a traditional Midlands business making a substantial foreign acquisition.
"Hampson is a traditional business, but with a dynamic management doing exciting things. They have a good chance of winning this prize again if they keep doing these exciting deals."
Runner up in the category was the £293 sale by IMI of plastic drainage and sewerage pipes company Polypipe.
The investment by the Birmingham office of LDC into food labelling firm Paragon Print and Packaging was named the best private equity deal.
Runner up was LDC again for its involvement in Staffordshire-based manufacturer Electrium, whose sale to Siemens netted it an almost five fold return.
The floatation of specialist pensions consultancy Mattioli W oods, which raised £6 million was named IPO of the year, while the entry by Catapult Venture Managers was the newcomer of the year.
Mr Pratt said: "It may sound chauvinistic, but undoubtedly everyone now recognises that the professionals in Birmingham are at least a notch or two above their regional competitors. There is such a can-do approach, people here get things done here in a way you do not see anywhere else."
