Corporates hit international deals trail

LED by Amec’s £1.9bn merger with Swiss engineering group Foster Wheeler, 2014 saw North West businesses inject some £2.12bn into overseas corporates.

Deal volume in the year grew 15% from 34 to 39 during the year, according to research from Deloitte’s Cross Border Deals Radar. The investment total may be conservative, as it does not include substantial undisclosed deals such as retailer B&M Bargain’s acquisition of Ja Woll in Germany.

North West corporates injected more than £2bn into overseas businesses in 2014 and the volume of deals increased by 15%, according to research from Deloitte.

Other key transactions from the period include PZ Cussons’ £51.8m acquisition of Australian organic yoghurt brand Five:am, which built on its 2013 purchase of Aussie baby food brand Rafferty’s Garden for £42.2m.
 
Meanwhile, inbound activity, where overseas buyers are investing in the UK, remained healthy last year with 40 deals worth £1.27bn. This represented a 26% surge on 2013 in terms of value, but the volume of transactions fell by 25%.
 
Standout inbound deals in 2014 included the Co-operative’s £157.5m sale of its residential portfolio Illius Properties to New York-based Salmon Real Estate; and the £86.1m cash deal from Dublin-based UDG Healthcare for KnowledgePoint360, the Macclesfield-based medical information group.
 
Olly Tebbutt, director at Deloitte in the North West, said: “2014 was a great year for international M&A with both inbound and outbound activity performing well.

“Improving economic sentiment in the UK has given North West companies the confidence to invest for growth which we expect to continue in 2015.  Inbound investment into the region fell marginally in terms of transaction volume, however overall UK inbound M&A was up strongly year on year.  
 
“While the general election may introduce short term uncertainty, we expect the overall growth trend in cross border M&A activity to continue in 2015, particularly on the UK-North America corridor as US companies seek to take advantage of the strong currency to do deals.  
 

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