BDO advises on £3.4bn of transactions across region in 2024

In the year BDO’s M & A, Transaction Services and Tax teams advised on 49 buy-side and 20 sell-side deals. Nearly half of all transactions (33 deals, 48 per cent) involved private equity, with a further 31 deals (45 per cent) involving corporate/trade and five deals capital markets related.

Vinod Patel, Partner, Deal Advisory – Transaction Services - said: “It’s fair to say that the economic headwinds have continued to create a difficult trading environment for many regional businesses, but their resilience and ambition translated into sustained deal activity throughout the year.

“While the Autumn Budget has added an additional layer of pressure for many businesses, what it has done is provided a degree of political and economic certainty, which will only benefit the M & A market in both the Midlands and East of England.

“Yes, the National Insurance Contribution (NIC) increase will sting for many, undoubtedly impacting on cost bases in 2025. For some, this will result in a reduction in headcount, a pause on pay rises and a freeze on recruitment, amongst other things.

“However, what it’s likely to bring is a greater examination of pricing strategies – by those businesses that are able to – in response to increased costs.”

Standout BDO deals across the region involved a wide range of buyers, including corporate/trade, private equity, debt and capital/plc markets in the UK and internationally.

These included: providing financial due diligence services to HSBC in respect of the take private and refinancing of AIM listed Rotala PLC (transport solutions business); the sale of Utopia Tableware to Steelite International (a portfolio company of US Private Equity house, Arbor Investments); the sale of Torus Technology to KKR backed IP Group; as well as providing buy-side financial and tax due diligence and SPA advisory services to Nurture Group on its buy & build strategy, including its 50th and largest acquisition of Tivoli Group.

BDO also provided sell-side financial and tax due diligence support to Clifton Packaging Group on its sale to Carton Pack (an Italian group and portfolio company of A&M Capital Europe); buy-side M & A and commercial due diligence for LDC on its investment into Integrated Doorset Solutions; sell-side tax advisory services on the sale of CCS Media (one of the UK’s largest IT resellers) to Goldman Sachs-backed Advania; sell-side financial, tax and SPA advisory services to Charles Street Buildings Group to Lone Star, a leading private equity firm; while raising growth funding for PitPat (designer and creator of GPS Trackers & Activity Monitors for pets) from Correlation One Investments (Europe) Limited.

Roger Buckley, Partner, Deal Advisory – Mergers & Acquisitions – said: “Despite several competing factors, there is a growing sense of optimism for 2025. Despite the negativity arising from the 2024 Budget, we are expecting activity levels to exceed those seen in 2024, which is backed by a strong pipeline of engagements and opportunities.

“The UK faces many challenges. Yet both trade and private equity appetite for deals remains, with significant “dry powder” to deploy and portfolio companies to exit. M & A activity will also be underpinned by a desire to consolidate, particularly in those markets that remain fragmented with businesses executing buy and build strategies to achieve scale and gain market share in 2025.”

In light of the future pipeline, BDO continues to invest in its Deal Advisory team across the region with the appointment of eight people, including Steve Round, as Deals-Tax partner.

BDO has also been ranked as the number one financial due diligence provider in the UK and Ireland in Mergermarket’s Accounting League Table for 2024. In the same week, the firm has been named the most active adviser in 2024 by Factset.

Derek Neil, BDO partner and Head of Transaction Services, said: “In an increasingly complex world, we're proud to have earned the position of top financial due diligence provider in 2024. We’ve supported our clients to complete 266 transactions, providing financial due diligence on 217 of these.

“This achievement reflects our clients' trust in us to help them to navigate complex decisions, as well as our talented team's ability to deliver meaningful insights.”