Dealmaker confirms rise in management buy-outs
THERE has been a “substantial increase” in the number of deals, particularly management buy outs (MBOs), in recent months according to a Yorkshire dealmaker.
Paul Trudgill, managing partner of hlw Keeble Hawson, who has acted for management in four MBOs with a combined value of £16m since January, is also witnessing investment for growth.
This accords with figures from the Centre for Management Buyout Research (CMBOR) which shows the highest volume of deals in Yorkshire since 2008 were completed in the second quarter of this year.
Mr Trudgill said: “It appears that the disconnect between the funding market and transactions has been bridged. Time will tell if it has been bridged completely and permanently, but the signs are promising because, in three of the deals I have completed, three different venture capitalists were involved.
“The renewed confidence in the economy is feeding through to owner/managers now contemplating taking investment to achieve the next stage in the development of their business. Often that will also include acquisition, if organic growth will not achieve that development quickly enough, and that augurs well for the transaction market going forward.”
Trudgill has represented management teams in MBOs at South Yorkshire based Countrywide Healthcare Supplies, thriving Sheffield control systems engineering company Riverside Automation, Scunthorpe-based Crowle Wharfe Engineers, and Leengate Valves in Derbyshire.
Additional deals the firm has completed in 2014 include advising in the £13.5m sale of Roota Engineering to Pressure Technologies.
The corporate team has also represented Harworth Estates in its forward-purchase agreement with Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council to develop 100,000 sq ft of industrial units on seven acres of land at the Advanced Manufacturing Park.
