24/11/2023 - Market news
Clearwater’s Yorkshire team completes £200m quartet of deals in October
The UK transaction market cooled during 2023, with overall M&A volumes down compared to the highs of 2021 and 2022. Whilst tougher trading conditions and market volatility impacted activity levels, Yorkshire businesses have shown resilience, with investor appetite in the region remaining strong as we head into 2024.
Much like the wider UK M&A market, volumes in Yorkshire have been lower so far during 2023 but there remains a well-established, and committed, corporate finance community supporting a strong pipeline of deals. There is currently optimism that the market has turned a corner and the remainder of this year and Q1 2024 will see a return to strong deal volumes.
Testing and inspection businesses, as well as healthcare and health-tech have been sought after sectors in recent times and that is no exception when looking at some of the deals that have been seen in the region this year, including those that Clearwater has advised on.
In October, the Clearwater team in Yorkshire completed a quartet of deals valued at over £200m
The Yorkshire and North East market benefits from a spread of private equity (PE) houses that covers the whole of the lower mid-market space, with all houses known to be actively investing and disposing, which augurs well for the continued strong performance of the region and its community.
In October, the Clearwater team in Yorkshire completed a quartet of deals valued at over £200m. All of these transactions involved businesses within either the business services and/or technology sectors, where interest from PE investors remain high and Clearwater has deep-rooted sector expertise. These transactions also involved selling businesses to PE, or PE-backed trade buyers, showcasing Clearwater’s strong connections with PE.
These Clearwater advised transactions include:
- Investment in Fruition IT by Erisbeg
- Sale of Forensic Testing Service to Forensic Access Group, backed by Limerston Capital
- Sale of iamproperty (backed by LDC) to Perwyn
- Sale of Derwentside Environmental Testing Services (DETS) and Latis Scientific for Suez to Normec, backed by Astorg
Having opened the office in 2020, the Clearwater team continues to go from strength to strength, with a 16 strong team. Since its inception, the Leeds team have worked across over forty deals, valued at over £3bn, advising businesses that are based in Yorkshire, as well as the rest of the UK.
Richard Goldsack, Partner at Clearwater International, commented:
“Market volatility has certainly made the M&A market more challenging during 2023, so it is more crucial than ever for advisers to demonstrate expert deal craft when working with their clients. Our team has worked with some great businesses, in what is a challenging M&A market which shows that for quality businesses there is plenty of capital available.
Our recent transactions show our ability to work with a wide range of clients, from advising entrepreneurial founders and PE backed businesses on the next step of their growth journey, to carve-outs from large corporates. It has been great to work with four fantastic businesses and management teams in Yorkshire and the North East over the last couple of months, demonstrating the quality businesses we are lucky to have in this region.”
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Clearwater Advisers
Adviser to Fruition IT on its investment from Erisbeg
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Clearwater Advisers
Adviser to Forensic Testing Service on its sale to Forensic Access
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Clearwater Advisers
Adviser to Suez on the disposal of its environmental quality monitoring activity in the UK to Normec
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