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North West gets £1.14bn M&A
boost from overseas
THE North West continues to provide a
home for overseas strategic bidders after the value of inbound M&A activity
reached £1.14bn in the first 6 months of 2015, according to the latest research
from Deloitte.
The firm's North West Cross-Border Deals Radar revealed that the value of
inbound activity has doubled in the first six months of this year; increasing
from £577m in 2014 to £1.14bn in 2015. Inbound deal making, where overseas
buyers are tapping into the UK market, has gained momentum now that the UK's
economic position is more stable since the outcome of the general election.
While the collective value of deals soared from H1 2014 to H1 2015, the volume
of inbound activity fell from 30 deals to 17 over the two periods.
A standout deal this year was from US laboratory supply giant Thermo Fisher
Scientific after it acquired Heysham based research chemicals supplier Alfa
Aesar for £256m.
Other key transactions included US private equity firm HIG Capital making a £65m
swoop for Chester's Grosvenor Shopping Centre; and the takeover of Blackburn
education technology firm Promethean World by NetDragon Websoft, a listed
business in Hong Kong.
John Breheny, corporate finance director at Deloitte, said:- "Renewed
confidence and a fear of being left behind has encouraged companies to return to
deal making. The North West boasts a large number of high quality businesses
with strong management teams, so it is no surprise that overseas buyers are
investing in companies in the region. The latest figures are a positive sign for
the North West economy and we expect activity levels to grow over the coming
months."
Outbound deal volumes, where UK investors target overseas assets, decreased in
the 1st 6 months of 2015. There were 13 deals (worth £145m) in 2015, compared to
19 deals (worth £2.01bn) in 2014. However, last year's deal value was dominated
by AMEC's £1.9bn takeover of US listed rival Foster Wheeler, in a blockbuster
deal for the Knutsford-based company.
Notable outbound transactions in the last 6 months include Manchester's PZ
Cussons acquiring a stake in Nigeria based Numtricima for £21m; and Chester
based data intelligence company GB Group attaining the remainder of its stake in
San Francisco based Loqate for £10.1m.
The research is based on data from Experian Corpfin, the global information
services company. |
