“Stars are aligning for a robust 2018 for M&A activity in Yorkshire and beyond”
“The stars are aligning for a robust 2018 for M&A activity in Yorkshire and beyond, according to the head of the Shoosmiths Leeds Corporate team.
Looking ahead to next year, Philip Goldsborough said: “Private equity houses have significant capital available for the right assets; money remains relatively cheap; and corporates are having to make strategic acquisitions rather than wait for medium to long term organic growth to avoid being left behind given the pace of change in today’s business environment.
“Fast moving factors that will continue to drive deals into 2018 include significant change in customer and consumer behaviours, a continued drive towards domestic and cross border supply chain consolidation; and today’s fluid national and global economic and political landscapes.”
Goldsborough joined Shoosmiths in June yo head up and establish the Shoosmiths Leeds corporate team together with corporate partner, James Foster. In November, Simon Procter joined the Shoosmiths team from Eversheds as a senior associate.
In just five months since the launch of Shoosmiths’ Leeds corporate department, Goldsborough, Foster and Procter Philip, James and the team are established in the Yorkshire market, already advising on transactions valuing £150m across a range of private equity, domestic and cross border M&A transactions.
“Looking back at the past 12 months in the region, Yorkshire SME’s digested the Brexit result quickly. After a brief pause post the vote, Yorkshire businesses picked up in good time for our regional M&A activity to hit the ground running in 2017.
“Although the challenge of Brexit uncertainty remained throughout the year, regional deal activity was largely resilient throughout 2017 and we have seen some excellent regional transactions, notably the Pelsis MBO; Zenith’s £750m acquisition by Bridgepoint Evercore; and the sale of 3i’s and LDC’s stakes in MKM to Bain Capital.”
