North West deal value increases despite COVID-19

Has the deal making market remained resilient again the pandemic?

The second quarter of 2020 experienced a sharp drop in mergers and acquisitions deal volumes due to the impact of COVID-19 Lockdown 1.0. However, the North West market rebounded for Quarter 3 and Quarter 4 as professionals adapted to extraordinary circumstances, resulting in 171 deals completing in Q3, and 205 in Q4.

Although 20% fewer deals were made in 2020 than in 2019, the value of North West deals completed in 2020 (£15 billion) was double that of 2019. Overall, the North West accounted for 4.2% of all UK deal value and 11.9% of deal volume.

Around 8% of the deals were supported by bank funding, with HSBC as the North West lender of choice. NatWest, Shawbrook and Barclays were close behind. Funds for over 20% of the total deal volume was accounted for by private equity, which is up 5% from 2019, with Maven Capital Partners and NPIF Maven Equity Finance being the most active firms, followed by LDC.