Confidence as West Mids sees lift in management buyouts
The number and value of management buyouts in the West Midlands has doubled since the second half of 2010. According to figures released by the Centre of Management Buy-Out Research (CMBOR), the region experienced one of the biggest leaps in deal activity in the UK in the first half of 2011.
Eight deals with a total value of £764m were recorded in the first half of the year compared with four deals valued at £383m in the second half of 2010.
The figures were given a significant boost by BC Partners’ multimillion-pound buyout of Phones4U in March.
Nationally, the three months to June were less active than the start of the year, with 59 buy-outs recorded with a total value of £2.3bn, compared to 106 deals with a total value of £3.6bn in the first quarter of the year.
Paul Harper, investment director at the Birmingham Office of Barclays Private Equity, said: “Overall, the UK private equity market has had a slow start to 2011 following a heightened level of buyout activity at the end of 2010.
“Buyout firms in general have been more inclined to sell than to acquire and overall, it is the exit market that has dominated UK deal flow in the first half of this year.”
The CMBOR research was sponsored by Barclays Private Equity and Ernst and Young.
