West Midlands corporate deals review in association with Clearwater International
Hello 2017. The festive period has passed, the decorations are down, the gyms are bursting at the seams, and it’s back to business as usual for the Midlands.
As we look back to December and comment on deal activity leading up to Christmas, despite many winding down towards the festive period, there was only a slight drop in deal volume compared to November; with TheBusinessDesk.com recording 28 deals compared to 30 the month before.
An interesting trend in December was Midlands manufacturing businesses being acquired by French corporates.
French multinational yeast manufacturer Lesaffre acquired Kidderminster food mix manufacturer LFI Tollblend. Lesaffre claimed the acquisition was part of its strategy to expand its market share of the Western European sourdough and baking ingredients market. Coventry based Terex also sold its compact construction business to French based Groupe Mecalac SA. The acquisition reflected Mecaac’s desire to broaden its range of equipment for urban construction sites
It is refreshing to see that despite some political and economic uncertainties around the UK’s membership of the EU, Midlands’s corporates are still attractive to European firms looking to broaden their product offerings and gain access to new distribution channels and customer segments.
This is a trend that seems to have been reflected nationally as we move into 2017, with five UK companies already having been acquired by French corporates.
Voyageurs du Monde, the French tailor made travel company, acquired a 60% stake in UK luxury operator, Original Travel; UK dessert maker Ministry of Cake, was acquired by Mademoiselle Desserts, the French pastry manufacturing portfolio company of Equistone Partners Europe; French nursery group operator, LPCR Groupe, made their first acquisition in the UK with the purchase of nursery operator Magic Nursery Group; listed French recreational equipment and camping cars manufacturer, Trigano, acquired Auto-Sleepers, a UK manufacturer of motorhomes and campervans; and leading UK provider in the enterprise-service management sector, Engage ESM, was acquired by France-based global digital services company Atos.
2017 in the Midlands has got off to a strong start with 14 deals recorded by TheBusinessDesk.com in the first two weeks alone. As businesses return to full operation following the slowdown during the Christmas break, we expect this deal momentum to continue. It will be interesting to see what trends lie ahead in Midlands M&A for the rest of the year.
