EY’s North Dealmakers advise on a further £2bn deals in Q4, bringing 2021 total to £9bn

North, 13 January 2022: EY’s North Strategy and Transactions teams acted on over 14 completed deals worth £2bn in Q4, bringing the 2021 activity to a total of over 60 completed deals worth £9bn.

Across the North, EY provided sell side financial, legal, operational and IT separation and tax support to Croda, as it sold elements of its Performance Technologies and Industrial Chemicals (PTIC) business to Cargill. Further, EY was an exclusive financial advisor to Synetiq Ltd, a leading integrated salvage and vehicle dismantling company, the team provided corporate finance, financial and tax due diligence as it was acquired by US group IAA Inc.

In the North West, EY provided vendor due diligence to SRL Traffic Systems on its sale to 3i Infrastructure plc, and supported DA Languages as it was acquired by private equity firm IK Partners. In addition, the team provided financial due diligence to Miss Group, as it acquired Webland, and supported Radius Payment Solutions on its acquisition of Vue Group.

EY’s Corporate Finance team provided M&A advisory services to the shareholders of North West-based Kids Planet, on securing investment from Fremman Capital. EY Parthenon also provided vendor commercial due diligence services and EY Tax provided tax advisory services to Kids Planet. In addition, the team advised Endless on the sale of Adare SEC to Opus Trust Communications.

Mark Clephan, Corporate Finance Partner at EY in the North, said: “Overall, the market was very busy in 2021 – with healthy levels of dealmaking driven by the desire to invest in new technologies, unlock new opportunities and deliver efficiencies.

“The year saw high prices, together with elevated levels of activity leading to many advisers being sold out, record levels of IPOs and overseas trade and private equity activity. Looking ahead, we can expect strong continued dealmaking activity by UK companies, although it is likely to be at a more manageable level.”

Steven Kingham, Partner and Head of Transaction Services for EY in the North West, said: “As the deals market continued apace, our team remained busy across several technology and e-commerce sector deals, as these businesses continued to transact and perform well throughout the pandemic. 2021 saw similar trends of dealmaking to 2020, although key trends including Sustainability and ESG, have become an increasingly important aspect of dealmaking.

“Looking forward to 2022, I expect the market to remain buoyant and I’m preparing for another exceptionally busy year – with a strong pipeline of work already and plans to grow our team further.”