Deals up in Yorkshire

DEALS at the larger end of the mid market (£100m – £400m) increased by 250% from the last quarter of 2009, when six deals completed, in the first quarter of 2010, according to KPMG.

Christian Mayo, KPMG’s Leeds head of corporate finance, said: “Given the volatility of the past 18 months, it has been encouraging to see such a positive recovery in mid market private equity deals, many of which have been led by traditional UK mid market private equity houses, supplemented by a small number of US players.

“One of the more sizeable deals was the Phoenix buyout of Yorkshire’s Andrew Page which was a tremendous transaction and is indicative of the new-found bullishness in our regional PE community.

“The conversations I’m having with contacts around the region suggest that there is certainly enough money sloshing around, both in the traditional PE houses and in the new quasi-funds which are starting to come to market, for activity to continue to pick up.

“In turn, this confidence amongst PE houses is starting to increase competition for the best assets and as a result some sales processes are already being run as auctions.”

There was a nine-fold increase in the management buy-out deals market over the first quarter of 2010, compared with the same quarter last year and there was a 25% increase in deal volume in sub £100m range.

Mr Mayo added: “Momentum in the private equity market has been building for several months, so it’s great to see this is now being reflected in the number of deal completions.

“Each time a large leveraged transaction such as Andrew Page and Card Factory completes, it makes the next one that little bit easier.”