Richard Abbott
Editor of Yorkshire Business Insider
In Focus: Close but no cigar
Editor Richard Abbott asks if frenetic dealmaking activity will reach fruition.
Voting opens for our Yorkshire Dealmakers Awards this week. Over the next month, those in the corporate finance community will nominate their leading individuals, advisory firms and deals from the past 12 months.
The big night will be held on 24 November in the Saviles Hall at the Royal Armouries, Leeds. Our host will be the former England rugby union star Austin Healey, who nowadays may be equally familiar as the lycra-clad loon who attempts to insert himself into moving targets on BBC Saturday teatime show Hole in the Wall.
On a serious note though, we're looking forward to another excellent evening of celebration and networking with contacts and friends, as we reflect on a challenging year for dealmaking; one that has been riddled with economic challenges and uncertainties that could yet deliver us into a second round of recession.
Dealmakers across Yorkshire tell me they are busier than at any time in recent memory but this hasn't materialised into a glut of deals. A lot of the hard work is going into preparing businesses for sale and alerting potential buyers. Once the deal foundations have been laid, protracted negotiations and strict lending guidelines are causing some deals to flounder.
In Sheffield to meet a local dealmaker recently, he arrived an hour late after being called away at the eleventh hour to agree heads of terms on a transaction. A Leeds dealmaker reminded me just last week of the volume of deals that his team was working on, many of which were under the radar due to requested confidences.
If 2010 can be summed up as a quiet year sprinkled with a handful of high-profile deals (Card Factory, Asda/Netto, Zenith Provecta) then 2011 will go down as the year of opportunistic trade acquisitions (Morrisons/Kiddicare a case in point). Oft-used words have included caution, turbulent, strategic.
Those deals that have crossed the line must have something special – I’d strongly recommend you read Kurt Jacobs' excellent review of third quarter activity in Insider's September issue, which will be landing on your desks shortly.
It could yet be that the final quarter will see a glut of completions and there have been signs that private equity-backed MBOs/MBIs could be emerging again.
Private equity has been conspicuous by its absence over the past 12 months yet its worth recalling that Endless had a frenetic start to the year, putting Yorkshire on the national map with a string of deals, while YFM and LDC’s backing of Bagel Nash and Driver Hire respectively prove that the appetite for investment is there.
So plenty to think about as we lead up to our Dealmakers Awards. I look forward to seeing you there.
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About Richard
Richard Abbott is editor of Yorkshire Business Insider. He is an experienced business journalist, who joined the magazine in spring 2010. He was previously deputy editor of Marketing and of Campaign Middle East, and features editor of Media Week.
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