Member Article

Sheffield’s hlw Keeble Hawson sees 4 MBO’s valued at £16 million this year

Sheffield dealmaker hlw Keeble Hawson is witnessing a substantial increase in the number of deals - particularly management buy outs (MBOs) - the firm is completing

This accords with figures from the Centre for Management Buyout Research (CMBOR) which shows the highest volume of deals in Yorkshire since 2008 were completed in the second quarter of this year.

Managing partner Paul Trudgill, who has acted for management in four MBOs with a combined value of £16 million since January 2014, is also witnessing investment for growth.

Mr Trudgill said: “It appears that the disconnect between the funding market and transactions has been bridged. Time will tell if it has been bridged completely and permanently, but the signs are promising because, in three of the deals I have completed, three different venture capitalists were involved.

“The renewed confidence in the economy is feeding through to owner/managers now contemplating taking investment to achieve the next stage in the development of their business.

“Often that will also include acquisition, if organic growth will not achieve that development quickly enough, and that augurs well for the transaction market going forward.”

The managing partner has represented management teams in MBOs at South Yorkshire based Countrywide Healthcare Supplies, thriving Sheffield control systems engineering company Riverside Automation.Scunthorpe-based Crowle Wharfe Engineers Ltd, and Leengate Valves in Derbyshire.

Additional deals the firm has completed in 2014 include advising in the £13.5 million sale of Roota Engineering to Pressure Technologies.

The corporate team has also represented Harworth Estates in its forward-purchase agreement with Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council to develop 100,000 sq ft of industrial units on seven acres of land at the Advanced Manufacturing Park.

Ranked in the top 10 in Experian’s table of the most active advisers in Yorkshire’s mergers and acquisitions market during 2013, hlw Keeble Hawson is also included in Experian’s top 5 of most active legal advisers in Q1 of 2014.

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