PwC’s transaction services and lead advisory teams in the Midlands completed 19 deals with a total value in excess of £2bn in FY22/23.
Simon White, deals partner and Midlands private business & private equity leader, at PwC, said: “We have seen a good level of activity over the last 12 months, despite the economic and geopolitical challenges that have been impacting the market.
“ESG, technology and transformation continue to be the focus areas for our clients and the team in the Midlands has a variety of experts able to deliver these services. As we move into the new financial year, activity remains buoyant and we’re seeing green shoots of economic recovery.
“Sectors including technology, healthcare, industrial products, business services and energy & infrastructure were leading in FY22/23 and we expect to see activity continue into FY23/24.”
The TMT sector in particular continued to see high activity levels across both corporate and private equity transactions. Key deals included Uniphore’s acquisition of Red Box Recorders, Node4 investing in Risual and Bowmark Capital investing in Littlefish.
Deals in the industrials and business services sector also remained strong, particularly in the infrastructure services sector where PwC saw a cluster of transactions including H.I.G Capital Partners’ acquisition of CPS Building Services, PEXA’s acquisition of Optima Legal Services and Arcus Infrastructure Partners’ acquisition of Workdry International Group Limited. More recently PwC lead advisory and transactions combined to advise Augean on its acquisition of Future Industrial Services from NorthEdge Capital and advised on another three deals in the waste and circular economy segment.
To support the pipeline of activity, PwC has recently announced further investment into the deals team in the Midlands, with 44 promotions taking place in July, including six directors and two new partner admissions – Rebecca Elnaugh and Sally Graham.
Rebecca Elnaugh, deals partner, joined PwC in 2021 and has specialised in valuations for 15 years. Rebecca focuses on mid-market private equity clients, working with them to enhance value through the design, implementation and valuation of management incentive plans.
Sally Graham, deals partner, joined PwC in 2006 from university and is a specialist in PwC’s Sale and Purchase Agreement (SPA). Sally focuses on helping private equity and corporate clients across a range of sectors and deal sizes to maximise and protect value through their M&A transaction pricing mechanisms.
