The corporate team at independent law firm Brabners advised on more than £475 million-worth of deals in the first half of 2023, as it continued to support the UK and international M&A market.
Having supported 85 deals this year, with an average value of more than £5.5 million, Brabners is on track to surpass the 127 transactions it advised on in 2022 and exceed its pre-pandemic performance for the third year in a row.
The firm’s 50-strong corporate team in the North of England has supported a broad range of significant transactions in recent months, including Manchester Airport Group’s acquisition of ParkVia, which provided an exit for investor Mercia.
A number of deals involved the transition to employee ownership, including for renowned Manchester architectural practice Jon Matthews Architects.
Brabners’ specialist team continues to be highly active in Management Buyouts across the region, as well as supporting on buy and build strategies for long-standing clients like Swedish group Atlas Copco, as it acquired Northampton-based distributor Maziak Compressor Services.
Transactions involving private equity also continued to be supported by the firm, including Omni Partners’ investment in Warrington-based Aesthetic Technology Ltd (ATL) and the £24m YFM Equity Partners-backed buyout of Warrington-based Resulting IT.
Over a quarter of the total deals for H1 came from the firm’s growing Leeds office, which recently marked a year since its launch. The Leeds team was instrumental in the sale of The Pharmacy Group to Leeds-based HubRx, which was one of the largest deals in the retail pharmacy sector nationally in the past 12 months, covering 34 community pharmacies and more than 300 employees.
Healthcare continued to be a key theme in Brabners H1 deal activity, after further investment in its specialist team resulted in a strong flow of transactions concerning pharmacies and dental businesses.
Brabners’ corporate team continues to support sustained revenue growth across the firm, which has invested significantly in its presence across Manchester, Liverpool, Lancashire and Leeds in the past 12 months.
Marcus Armstrong, partner and practice group head (Leeds), said: “The demand we continue to see demonstrates the resilience of businesses across the UK, from new clients to those we’ve been with since the beginning of their growth journeys.
“The findings from our recent Northern Investment Index report suggest that there will be significant appetite from both domestic and international investors for the remainder of the year, particularly in the regions.
“That investor appetite is likely to play a key role in further market consolidation, as we continue to see polarisation in the performance of businesses and the availability of funding from traditional lenders. As such, we can expect an active second half to 2023, with trade buyers – often private-equity backed – seeking opportunities to build out their offer with the acquisition of complementary organisations.”
Brabners’ inaugural Northern Investment Index report for 2023 surveyed more than 400 UK and US-based investors and found that Manchester was the number one city for investment in 2023, ahead of London. Cardiff was third, while Liverpool and Leeds ranked joint sixth overall.
