EY North teams advise on deals worth more than £500mn in Q4 2024, as market activity gathers pace

EY teams in the North of England acted on eight transactions worth a total of more than £500mn in the final quarter of 2024.

EY provided a range of advice as Oakley Capital, a UK private equity house, invested in cybersecurity company, Assured Data Protection. EY North teams along with other UK colleagues provided support, including corporate finance advice, financial and tax due diligence, technical due diligence, tax structuring and sale and purchase agreement advisory.

Meanwhile, EY acted as the corporate finance advisor to LMF Energy Services – a national installer of renewable energy measures – on its investment from private equity group, Soho Square Capital. EY in the North provided advice and transaction diligence support to LMF Energy Services as part of the deal.

EY North, along with colleagues in the Midlands, provided corporate finance advice to communication management specialist, Adare SEC, on its sale to communication technology provider, Mail Metrics.

 In another collaboration with Midlands-based colleagues, EY North supported mid-market private equity firm, ECI’s investment in professional services automation (PSA) software provider CMap, with EY providing financial and tax due diligence services.

EY experts in the North West also worked with Moneypenny, which is owned by ECI, on refinancing with new lender Macquarie, providing financial and commercial due diligence services.

 Meanwhile, EY in Manchester provided corporate finance advice to property services business Liberty, part of ForHousing, on its carve-out and sale to construction company Wates Group.

John Divers, EY Transaction Diligence Leader in the North West, said: “The UK deals market has endured a challenging period across the last couple of years. However, over the last few months we have seen a rebound in activity, igniting a greater sense of optimism about the outlook for deal volumes. While there remains a degree of economic uncertainty, we have high expectations for the year ahead, supported by a healthy deals pipeline.

“Our deals teams in the North of England had a strong final quarter of 2024, and we were delighted to support a variety of clients with key transactions across the technology and energy sectors – both of which are areas where we anticipate further deal activity in 2025. We are looking forward with a real sense of positivity about what we can achieve together with clients and colleagues in 2025.”

In another technology-related transaction, EY dealmakers in Yorkshire supported Newcastle-based managed IT service provider, Aspire Technology Group, in acquiring part of the services of IT company, Cloud CoCo Limited, providing financial and tax diligence services.

 EY in Yorkshire also provided advice to private equity group, Leon Capital on its purchase of energy and sustainability consultancy, Longevity Partners.

Mark Clephan, UK Corporate Finance Leader and North M&A Partner at EY, said: “We had a strong second half of 2024, which saw our regional business collaborating with our sector experts across EY to support clients. Our recent deal completions represent our ambition and our intent to continue supporting private and regional businesses with their strategic transactions.”