Partner Article

Manufacturing storms ahead in North West

Manufacturing accounted for 25% of all private equity deals made in the North West over the last three years, worth a total of £952m.

Research carried out by Northern firm, Equistone Partners, found that since January 2010, 62 manufacturing transactions have been agreed in the North West out of a total 246 deals worth £5bn.

North Western firms also fared well in the Technology, media and telecoms (TMT) sector, with transactions worth £424m accounting for 18% of the regions deals, compared with Yorkshire’s TMT deals, which took up just 5% of agreements.

Equistone said the business and financial services sector was “buoyant”, and made up 19% of private equity deals worth £1.1bn, while the R&D sector accounted for 9% of all transactions and wholesale, retail and repair took up 10% of deals.

Steve O’Hare, head of the research firm in the North, commented: “The North West private equity market has held out extremely well over the past three years, with manufacturing accounting for a considerable slice of all deals.

“It is interesting to see how TMT has been the subject of a significant number of transactions, and we would not be surprised to see that share of total investments increase over the next few years.

“The North West is strong in this developing sector and the businesses, often relatively young with high growth prospects, could be ideal for private equity investment to take them on to the next stage in their development.

“Public markets remain volatile and debt finance is difficult to come by. Against this background, private equity is well-placed to continue supporting management teams with their growth plans.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Miranda Dobson .