Member Article

Strong start to 2014 for Yorkshire buyout market

The combined value of private equity-backed deals in Yorkshire reached £619 million in the first three months of 2014 – the second highest quarterly total since Q1 2010 – representing a strong start to the year for the region’s buyout market.

According to the latest data from the Centre for Management Buyout Research (CMBOR), sponsored by EY and Equistone Partners Europe Limited, the Yorkshire market’s performance during Q1 2014 was amongst the best in the country, behind only London (£1.6bn) and the South East (£800m) in terms of value.

Buoyed by the buyouts of Leeds-based businesses Callcredit Information Group and Zenith, the total value for Q1 2014 exceeded the buyout values for the previous three quarters combined (Q2 2013: £348m, Q3 2013: £23m, Q4: £130m), but did not surpass the figure for Q1 2013 (£714m).

Four deals completed in Q1 2014, down from five in Q1 2013.

Mark Clephan, M&A director at EY in Yorkshire, said: “The Yorkshire private equity market’s strong performance so far in 2014, which has been underpinned by two high quality mid-market transactions, suggests that confidence amongst sponsors and corporates is improving.

“Given the improving debt market conditions, the number of well capitalised private equity firms operating in the North and the strong pool of Yorkshire-based corporates entering new phases of investment as the economy improves, there’s reason to believe that the regional buyout market’s recovery can continue as the year goes on.”

Steve O’Hare, partner at Equistone Partners Europe, comments: “The Yorkshire buyout market still has a lot to celebrate. The industry proved to be resilient after the recession and we’ve seen a good run of exits in recent years with sizeable returns.

“There have been a couple of big-ticket deals from the quarter that demonstrate the quality of businesses based in the region.

“In particular, the sale of Callcredit to a Chicago private equity firm shows how UK assets remain attractive to overseas buyers. With this, and a number of other deals in the pipeline, the remainder of 2014 looks strong.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Clare Burnett .