Partner Article

Yorkshire sees surge in private equity buyouts

Data has indicated that there has been a 147% rise in the total value of private equity buyouts in Yorkshire during first half of year.

Published by the Centre for Management Buyout Research (CMBOR) and sponsored by Equistone Partners Europe and Ernst & Young, the data shows that the rise took the total value of private equity buyouts in the area worth £235 million.

The data also suggests that 2012 will be a busier year for private equity buyouts than last year and reveals the deals completed so far this year so far are equivalent to 71% of the £332 million during the whole of 2011.

While the national private equity market proved resilient in the first half of the year with a total of £8 billion buyouts, Yorkshire enjoyed a buoyant second quarter which accounted for £232 million of the £235 million of the deals completed in the first six months.

Of the 103 buyouts which have occurred in the first half this year, 13 have been through insolvency, this is compared to a total of 16 buyouts as a result of insolvency for the whole of last year.

During the second quarter of 2012, the data reveals the activity in private equity was slowing down with 66 deals in quarter one and 37 in quarter two.

Steve O’Hare, head of Equistone Partners in the North, said: “The Yorkshire private equity market was robust during the first half of the year and it was encouraging to see deal values rise from the same number of transactions as 2011.

“If economic uncertainties, particularly the Eurozone crisis, become more stable in the second half of the year, then we would expect to see an uplift in the deals completed.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Francesca Dent .