Midlands is all quiet on the M&A front, says PwC
The Midlands saw some strong mid-tier merger and acquisition (M&A) activity in the first three months of 2010 but was “quieter than expected” in the second quarter of the year, according to research from PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Some strong sales were made in the first quarter, including Halfords completing its £73.2m acquisition of private equity-backed Nationwide Autocentres and the Deb Group’s sale to Charterhouse Capital Partners for £325m.
However, the second quarter was not as strong either in the Midlands or nationwide. According to the advisory service’s debt market update, the number of corporate deals completed nationally fell by 40 per cent to just 21 during the second quarter.
However, the average value was £453m – almost double that achieved in the previous quarter.
Matt Waddell, head of corporate finance at PricewaterhouseCoopers in the Midlands, said: “Demand for new debt was weaker than expected during the second quarter, due to the re-emergence of caution in the marketplace, and this was disappointing after the comparative buoyancy of the first three months here in the Midlands.
“However, lender confidence continues to improve and this suggests that while the need for caution remains, a more sustained upturn in M&A activity may not be too far away and we could start to see signs of this in the final quarter of the year.”
