ANDERSON Strathern’s M&A team saw 2024 as a “record-breaking” year, with an aggregate value approaching £1bn.
The M&A team works in various sectors, including renewable energy, technology, transport Aand logistics, infrastructure, professional services, publishing, engineering, healthcare, hotels and leisure, and financial services.
This included share and business acquisitions and disposals, MBOs, transition to employee ownership, joint ventures and group re-organisations.
Simon Brown, partner, said: “The market is buoyant, driven by increased activity of private equity firms and improved investor confidence.
“Of note was acting for the sellers in the sale of the entire issued share capital of Douglas Home & Co Ltd to EQ Accountants Ltd/Sumer Group, a transaction that marked further consolidation of the accountancy market.
“In terms of mainstream M&A transactions, we have seen a growing trend of buyers initially acquiring 70-80% of target companies, with a call option to purchase the remainder over two to five years, and retaining incumbent management with an incentive to grow EBITDA further.
“Geographically, buyers have predominantly been English or European, particularly from Spain, France, Germany and the Netherlands, with some from further afield, such as North America, India and the Gulf states. This is a trend we expect to continue in 2025.”
Anderson Strathern’s private equity team also had a highly successful year, focusing on substantial investment deals.
This included one of the largest series A investments in a Scottish business in 2024: the £11m investment in its client and Scottish fintech company of the year, Aveni.ai.
Partner Euan Tripp said: “We saw a significant spike in investment activity ahead of the Budget, but the pipeline remains excellent.
“Investor clients, such as Foresight Group and Maven Capital, have clear deployment plans for their Scottish-focussed funds, and investment from further afield, particularly London and the United States, continues to grow.
“Areas such as AI and energy transition are proving to be particularly attractive with huge growth opportunities for 2025.”
The senior director, Max Schubert, added: “Investment-backed, partial buy-outs are proving popular. They allow successful succession and retirement strategies to be structured alongside continuing management teams benefiting from the targeted investment.
“We are also seeing larger fundraising rounds in Scotland. However, there is no doubt that deals are taking longer to complete, with multiple investors becoming the norm.”
