Bank boss bullish on deals lending

M&A activity levels are set to grow in the North West this year, according to the regional managing director of Lloyds Bank Corporate Markets for the North.

Mark Burton said the North of England’s corporate markets team has seen a 23% growth in cash deposits from customers – a figure that is significantly higher than in other parts of the country.

Mr Burton said this conserving of cash was often a precursor to borrowing money to fund growth plans, such as acquisitions or through organic growth.

He said the Lloyds Bank Corporate Markets team, which delivers corporate banking and risk management services to customers with annual revenues of more than £15m and has lent more than £1.1bn across the North, was signalling its confidence in the market by recruiting new members and hunting out new clients.

And he said businesses were telling his team that they were keen to work together in order to pursue their expansion plans rather than “bashing the banks”.

“I really genuinely think we’ve got corporate businesses that are ready to go. “It’s now about them having the confidence in the context of the wider economic picture.”

Mr Burton sees opportunities for businesses who export and those with a niche offering, but he said even within individual sectors it was difficult to predict the future and issues such as raw material costs and fluctuations in currencies were obstacles to growth.

“For an economy to survive and thrive you need a buoyant advisory community and funding community backed up by a buoyant business community that are out there seeking growth in their markets.”

Major North West deals of recent months include the £100m club refinancings of Booths Supermarkets and Salford-based Luxfer.