Huge increase in outbound deals completed by Midlands companies
The number of outbound deals completed by Midlands-based companies between March 2021 and April 2022 has more than doubled, according to Deloitte’s Cross Border Deals Radar.
The research, which tracks inbound and outbound transactions between investors and corporates in the Midlands and overseas, reveals that there has been significant year-on-year growth in the volume of outbound deals in the region.
The Midlands saw 58 deals completed between Q2 2021 and Q1 2022, compared with just 24 deals in the 12 months prior – an increase of 142%.
In Q1 2022, Midlands-based companies completed eight acquisitions of overseas companies. Nottinghamshire led the way, with five of those eight deals coming from the county.
The other three deals involved companies based in Leicestershire and Worcestershire.
In terms of inbound investment, the Midlands has been relatively stable year-on-year. In total, 57 inbound deals were completed in the last 12 months, and similarly 55 were completed in the 12 months previous.
Swedish and German companies have led inbound investment into the Midlands in Q1 2022. Swedish investors completed more cross-border deals in the Midlands than any other country, investing £795.1m into local organisations.
Nick Carr, a director at Deloitte, said: “The volume of outbound cross-border deals continues to soar, with the increase we saw after the pandemic continuing into this year. There’s capital available in the market, a desire to do deals, and many organisations are accelerating their digital transformation through acquisitions.
“It will be interesting to see how cross-border investment trends change throughout the remainder of this year, given the number of variables currently at play in the UK and overseas. Inflation, higher interest rates, energy price rises and supply chain challenges could all contribute to a decrease in deal activity in the coming months, which Deloitte will be keeping a close eye on.”
