Member Article

Regional accountancy firm seals deals totalling more than £70 million

A regional accountancy firm has helped to seal deals totalling a value of over £70 million for its clients over the last year.

Burgis & Bullock’s corporate finance team has completed 12 deals in the last 12 months – one of the most active years in the firm’s history.

The deals have been completed across key sectors including healthcare, IT, manufacturing and engineering.

Its largest deal saw the sale of Plastic Bottle Supplies following its growth from one machine to a major business in the sector over 20 years.

The substantial sale saw the business sold to IPL Plastics plc, a manufacturer of packaging for a wide range of industries globally including food, consumer products, logistics, agricultural, and automotive.

Burgis & Bullock also supported the shareholders of Microtrading, a Midlands managed service provider focused in the SME sector, in its sale to Nottingham based Air IT.

The deal came as demand for IT support services for remote working grew rapidly during lockdown and marked the first acquisition for Air IT since it received backing from buy and build private equity investor August Equity.

Burgis & Bullock completed several healthcare transactions during the last 12 months, including the sale of domiciliary care business The Care Bureau to Vida Care. The firm helped to identify Vida Care as the right partner for sale and completed the deal.

Simon Chapman, Partner at Burgis & Bullock, has specialised in corporate finance for over 25 years, advising on company sales, management buy-outs and buy-ins, corporate acquisitions, raising finance and valuations.

He said the market is still strong for good quality companies that have survived the pandemic and adapted well to the change of circumstances.

Simon said: “It’s been a very active year for our corporate finance team despite Covid-19, with the completion of 12 deals totalling a value of more than £70 million.

“We’ve seen a lot of activity particularly in the IT, healthcare and manufacturing sectors – which in the case of IT and healthcare can be put down to a boost to these sectors during the pandemic.

“Corporate acquirers and private investors are on the look-out for good quality assets and are particularly keen on companies that have thrived over the last 18 months and shown good adaptability despite the difficult circumstances.

“It has been a mix of retirement sales and strategic acquisitions, where we have worked with clients to identify a unique opportunity to sell into a strong market.

“We are still seeing a strong pipeline of deals coming through and are set for another busy 12 months ahead.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Matt Joyce .