Liverpool deals drop to £342m following Brexit vote

The combined value of transactions made by Liverpool-based professional advisors passed the £342m mark in 2016, according to new data.

The figure, representing a year-on-year dip of 13%, was highlighted in a new report published by financial services firm Experian and presented by Merseyside network Professional Liverpool.

The findings revealed that the Liverpool deal market was more subdued following last June’s Brexit vote, with the overall volume of deals falling from 87 transactions in 2015 to 72 in 2016, a drop of 17%.

It was discovered that 87% of Liverpool-based advisors’ deals were valued at £5m or more.

While 2016 saw the strongest deal activity take place during H1 as in previous years, the busiest month in value terms was November – despite the otherwise dampened activity after the EU Referendum. In November, three deals had a value greater than £10m.

In terms of deal volume, the wholesale and retail sector saw its busiest year in a decade and overtook manufacturing, at 29 transactions. The real estate sector saw the lowest number of deals.

Jeff Cummins, relationship director at NatWest for commercial and private banking, joined John Bennington, Experian Corpfin national account manager, in presenting the report’s findings to members of Professional Liverpool.

Jeff said: “2016 has been an interesting year in terms of the financial sector, with the increasing availability of alternative sources of finance, in many cases providing deal support alongside traditional options.

“Despite Liverpool based advisors acting on a lower number of deals in 2016, increased acquisition volumes were seen across the Region, with the wholesale and retail sectors featuring strongly.”

He added: “It is encouraging to see private equity backed deals rebounding following a disappointing 2015, however the Region appears to be lagging behind other parts of the UK in this respect.”

John commented: “2016 was a bumper year for mergers and acquisitions in the UK, with deal making confidence seemingly unaffected by an economic and political environment that might be conservatively be described as ‘unsettled’.

“The North West in particular looks to have gone from strength to strength, with record levels of activity fuelled by increasing numbers of small to mid-sized deals and strong year on year growth returned across a wide variety of sectors.”

He continued: “Liverpool based advisors have played a key part of this growth. As our report shows, the sheer breadth and range of transactions worked on by advisory firms in the city last year was striking, both in the North West and further afield, and speaks volumes for the capabilities of its burgeoning professional community.”

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