Member Article

North West M&A activity gaining momentum, despite third lockdown

• Upward trend in corporate finance activity in 2021
• Market activity follows strong 2020, with 26 deals completed

Corporate finance activity in the North West is gaining momentum, despite the country being placed in a third national lockdown.

Accountancy and business advisory firm, BDO LLP, has seen an upward trend in market activity in the first few weeks of 2021, following a significant number of deals in 2020.

In total, the BDO Northern Corporate Finance team advised on 26 deals last year – testament to the resilience of businesses in the region.

Rob McCann, M&A partner at BDO LLP, said: “Despite a turbulent year, there was still a considerable amount of corporate finance activity in the region, including both equity and debt investment to fund a number of high-profile mergers of acquisitions across key sectors.

“While regional businesses continue to face increasing challenges brought on by a third national lockdown, we are starting to see an upward trend in activity in the early stages of the year, demonstrating the appetite and resilience of companies and investors to get business done.”

Of the 26 deals completed in 2020, 10 involved private equity investment. These included LDC’s investment in Omniplex – a market-leading eLearning solutions provider; the sale of ProCare (Wales) Limited to specialist healthcare investor, Tristone Capital; and the acquisition of Copperfasten, which trades as TitanHQ, by Livingbridge.

Rob added: “The Northern market has always been highly attractive to the private equity community, and this has played out in the number of PE investors that have pumped significant capital into the regional economy over the course of 2020. We expect this to continue in 2021, as investors seek to target high-growth businesses, with the potential for healthy returns, despite difficult trading conditions.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Emma McCallum .