Phil Adams, director of investment bank Altium’s Manchester operation has completed four deals over the last four weeks and is confident of completing the £30m plus “public to private” of software company Ascribe. He called for advisers and funders to continue to support local teams. Adams told Insider this morning: “We have to support one another and keep work in the region through this period. Market conditions are really tough, but deals are there to be done.”

With more and more businesses facing distressed turnaround situations, this month Insider’s online Deals Advice section brings you a new feature to explain management buy-ins (MBIs), a rare sight in the deals market that could, say advisers, become more prevalent as funders call for skills input at management level. “The real value for MBI teams is going to be in buying businesses shortly before or in an insolvency process because they’ll be paying very little for goodwill but getting a slimmed-down business,” says John Green, chief executive of accountancy and business advisory firm Pierce in Blackburn. To read more, visit our Deals Advice section and click on What is… an MBI?

Confidence is high at Liverpool Science Park, which yesterday held a VIP pre-launch event to herald its second phase development, Innovation Centre 2. This will bring a further 40,000 sq ft of space to a facility that has surpassed expectations since opening. Operations director Chloe Harding told Insider: “The new building will be ready in March and is much needed to give us some critical mass as we look to build Liverpool’s strength in science. The first building’s full now and there’s been a lot of interest in what we’re doing.”