It has been another year of growth at PKF, resulting in the firm being ranked 2nd most active M&A adviser in the Midlands and moving up one place to 6th nationally.
Our team continued to support clients on business sales and acquisitions, sales to management teams and employee ownership trusts, private equity and fund raising.
Key highlights of the year include:
- Sale of TTG’s wireless technology division, Affini Technology, to Petards plc
- Sale of IT Solutions provider, Port-P, to an employee ownership trust (EOT)
- Private Equity investment in Taylors Transport by Chiltern Capital
- Acquisition of Wigan Self-Store by Quick Self Storage
- Sale of 7-store Domino’s franchise, Glamorgan, to Topacio
- Sale of ASG to Beach Equity Investors backed Pendine Group
Over the past year we have continued to build our capabilities and expand the deal advisory team across the Midlands. Claire Spencer joined as Partner in April and has 25 years’ experience in mid-market transactions as well as significant expertise in private equity and cross-border deals.
Tom Sinden has joined the Transaction Services team, bringing with him over 8 years of experience in providing financial due diligence and vendor assist services to private business, private equity and listed corporates. The firm was recognised by being shortlisted for the Due Diligence Team of the Year award at the East Midlands Rainmakers.
There were a number of promotions in the team recognising their invaluable contributions in delivering deals for our clients including Tom Joy (Director), Deniss Sipovics (Manager), Callum Leslie (Assistant Manager) and Lauryn Mayson (Senior Executive). Joe Anderson and Jason Sackey joined the team mid-year, and we continued to invest in developing new talent with Joseph English and Ellis O’Neill joining the latest cohort of our successful corporate finance graduate scheme.
In 2024, 17% of our deals involved overseas acquirers from France, Italy and the United States. As part of PKF Global, in-depth global knowledge and expertise is available for businesses who are looking to invest in or acquire UK businesses, or sell to an overseas buyer.
Sectors
This year our most active sectors were: industrials and engineering; professional services; real estate and construction.
The Midlands is home to some fantastic industrials and engineering businesses, and it is great to continue to support the sector to execute trade sales and MBOs. Our professional services deals included supporting our own business on the divestment of our payroll bureau as well as the acquisition of insolvency practice BLB Advisory, which has been integrated into our Business Recovery and Restructuring service offering. In the last 5 years, PKF has completed over 100 deals in the technology sector and continued to build-upon this expertise with transactions in IT managed services and wireless communications. We also completed more deals in the self-storage sector, as well as our Food & Beverage franchise team delivering their first Domino’s franchise deal.
Outlook for 2025
Despite economic uncertainties, private equity investors are optimistic about the opportunities that lie ahead. We expect a continuance in the resurgence of M&A activity, with further consolidation in the technology, healthcare, professional services, self-storage and wider business services sectors. The shift from growth-focused to operationally-driven value creation strategies will be a key trend, meaning that the valuation creation story of an investment needs to be strong. Interest rate cuts throughout the year are anticipated to stimulate deal-making activities. Additionally, the changes to capital gains tax following last year’s Autumn Budget were not as severe as expected, which potentially will lead to stability in the M&A market, with appetite from many acquisitive businesses seeking exiting shareholders.
If you’d like further information regarding the contents of this document, or you’d like to find out more about how we can help you and your business, please get in touch.
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