Scots equity market buyout deals soar

Deputy Business Editor

Tuesday 3 July 2012

THE value of buyout deals in the Scottish private equity market surged 236% in the first six months of 2012.

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Greig Cameron

Research from the Centre for Management Buyout Research found three deals worth £47 million completed between January and June this year compared to £14m in the first part of 2011.

However, the 2012 figure is equivalent to just 11% of the total recorded last year after a second-half surge saw £419m of deals completed.

Steve O'Hare, head of Equistone Partners, said: "Scotland has proved a resilient market in the first half of the year. "However, it needs a flurry of large private equity buyouts to match last year's final total. The data indicates that confidence remains fragile, especially for larger transactions. "If economic uncertainties, particularly the eurozone crisis, become more stable in the second half of the year, then we would expect to see an uplift in the deals completed."Mark Clephan, merger and acquisitions director at accountancy firm Ernst & Young, said: "Scottish buy-out activity remains subdued and, although average deal size in the first six months of 2012 is treble that of the comparable period in 2011, deal volumes and average value are some way behind those achieved in the second half of 2011."Across the UK there were £8 billion of buyouts in the first half of 2012, which was ahead of the £6.9bn recorded in the same period of 2011.So far 13 deals have been done from insolvency, compared to 16 across the whole of last year.The retail sector has been particularly buoyant with the £2bn completed between January and June ahead of the £1.3bn achieved during the whole of 2011.There has been a slowdown in spending during 2012 though, with 66 deals worth £5.4bn taking place in the first quarter and 37 worth £2.6bn in the following three months.

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Scots equity market buyout deals soar

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