Member Article

R&R Ice Cream buyout barometer for buoyant Yorkshire deals market

The sale of North Yorkshire’s R&R Ice Cream to PAI Partners was the second largest buyout in the UK in quarter three, according to the latest data published by the Centre for Management Buyout Research (CMBOR), sponsored by EY and Equistone Partners Europe.

The analysis shows that, so far in 2013, Yorkshire’s private equity buyout market has completed £1.8bn worth of deals – second only to London (£3.4bn) – compared to £0.3bn in both 2012 and 2011 over the same period.

By volume, Yorkshire ranked fifth completing eleven deals between January and September 2013 – behind London (25), North West (25), South East (22), and Scotland (13).

Mark Clephan, M&A director at EY, said: “Yorkshire’s deals market has no doubt been buoyed by standout buyouts, including the sale of R&R to PAI Partners, Ghd to Lion Capital and Principal Hayley to US-based Starwood Fund. All have boosted confidence and driven activity in the region, which has the potential to continue.”

Private equity deals completed in Yorkshire and London amounted to almost half of the UK’s total buyout value of £10.5bn in the nine months to the end of September.

Steve O’Hare, partner at Equistone Partners Europe in the north of England, said: “Confidence is undoubtedly beginning to return to the Yorkshire market; the volume of big ticket deals in the region during the past year is testament to the appetite for growth. It’s positive that management teams are looking to private equity to achieve growth ambitions.”

Mark Clephan concluded: “Whilst deal processes are taking longer, Yorkshire is proving resilient in its ability to complete deals of all sizes, right up to the £1bn mark. We expect corporate carve-outs to add to a good pipeline of PE backed and entrepreneurial transactions.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by David Gatehouse .