Member Article

Pannone Corporate advises on over £500m of transactions in Q4

North West law firm, Pannone Corporate, has advised on over £500 million worth of deals in Q4, as M&A activity remains buoyant.

The corporate team, including partners Mark Winthorpe, Tom Hall and Tim Hamilton, completed 14 transactions during the final quarter of 2021 across M&A, IPO and private equity transactions.

High-profile deals include the sale of online mortgage broker Mojo Mortgages to RVU, part of the Zoopla Property Group; the sale of investment platform Hubwise to US tech giant SS&C; the sale of streetwear brand, HERA London, to Gymshark director and former chairman, Paul Richardson; the £16 million sale of asset management business IBOSS Group to AIM-listed Kingswood Holdings Limited; and the sale of online Hifi business AV Distribution to AIM-listed Gear4music (Holdings) plc.

Mark Winthorpe, corporate partner at Pannone Corporate, said: “It’s great to see the quality of national and international deals we’ve been involved in throughout 2021 continue into the last quarter, which is testament to the clients and institutions we’re lucky enough to work with.

“Stand out themes in the last quarter include the prevalence of US capital continuing to be attracted to quality UK assets, particularly in the technology and financial services space. Over half of our deals in Q4 had a US aspect or involvement, including those involving Zoopla Property Group and SS&C. Private equity-backed companies are continuing to fuel the M&A market, as growth is sought by acquisition, and we’ve recently acted on a number of PE exits as valuations remain robust.”

Pannone has seen certain sectors remain very resilient to the pandemic, such as financial services where the firm completed five deals in December 2021 alone. Other sectors include online retail, gaming and businesses involved in the circular economy, as ESG factors play an increasing part in the decisions of both investors and consumers.

Tom Hall said: “It’s exciting to see that we’re increasingly involved in both M&A and private equity deals in the rapidly growing technology space, which will no doubt be at the forefront of growth over the years to come.”

In November, Pannone advised Metaventures on its USD $8 million investment into games studio developer, Dubit, to fund the first metaverse gaming league.

Hall added: “The Dubit investment, in particular, was a really interesting deal to be involved in as the metaverse is grabbing both headlines and people’s imaginations, as major players commit to the virtual world.

“Whilst the performance in the final quarter of 2021 was outstanding, the pipeline of deals we’re working on in Q1 2022 is also excellent. As a result, we’re expecting to see a strong start to the year, with a significant number of international transactions, in particular, due to complete this month, highlighting the continued trend of cross-border transactions involving US and European buyers and targets.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Emma McCallum .