Deal Activity Levels Highlights ‘Growing Level Of Business Confidence’

The National head of Irwin Mitchell’s Corporate team has announced it has completed its 10^th deal in as many days and says the current level of M&A activity  points to growing confidence amongst businesses about the strength of the economy.

The deals include the sale of Runcorn-based packaging line automation software provider, AutoCoding Systems to JBT Corporation for £12.5m.

The other transactions have remained confidential but include venture capital investments and cross border M&A in the engineering, renewable energy, marketing, leisure and tech sectors.

Chris Rawstron, partner and National head of Irwin Mitchell’s Corporate team, said:

“Although the coronavirus pandemic and Brexit disrupted deal activity in 2020, particularly between the UK and continental Europe, the M&A market is showing signs of improvement with indications that activity is about to really take off.

“It’s reassuring to now see a growing level of business confidence and a willingness of many firms to transact. We’ve had a really strong start to the year and I’m pleased that this looks set to continue.”

He added: “We are seeing an increase in domestic deals and also cross-border interest in UK businesses. There are also growing signs that UK organisations are interested in building their base in Europe in order to nullify the issues of not being in the single market.”

Irwin Mitchell’s Corporate team is based across the UK and consists of 35 lawyers, including twelve partners.

The team specialises in M&A, funding including private equity and venture capital, management buyouts and stock exchange listings and fund raisings.