66 INSIDER March 2020 http://www.insider.co.uk
£67.42bn
Total deal value for 2019Number of Deals0110220330440550Non Sco O/seas Total2019
2018acquisitions/salesScoAcquisitions/SalesNumber of Deals0510152025Sco Non Sco O/seas Total2019
2018ReconstructionsNumber of Deals050100150200250Sco Non Sco O/seas Total(^20192018)
Specialist banking
Number of Deals
0
2
4
6
8
10
Sco Non Sco O/seas Total
(^2019 2018)
Start-ups
M&A ADVISORY • FUNDRAISING • VALUATIONS
TRANSACTION SUPPORT • TAX • RESTRUCTURING
ANDERSON ANDERSON & BROWN
CORPORATE FINANCE DIVISION
http://www.aab.uk
in the Andrew area in the central UK North
Sea and its non-operating interest in the
Shearwater field to Premier Oil for $625m.
The quarter saw continued strong appetite
from overseas buyers for Scottish companies,
particularly in the technology sector.
Edinburgh battery innovation company
Dukosi was sold to American private
equity investment group KCK. Dukosi had
been supported by IP Group, the Scottish
Investment Bank and investors from the Par
Equity syndicate. Andrew Noble, partner
at Par Equity, says the sale highlighted how
“businesses commercialising British ideas are
attractive to buyers and investors, not just in
the UK but across the globe”.
Overall acquisition and sale deal numbers
rose 14 per cent to 375 during the year, with
the acquisition by Halfords Group of Scottish
garage chain McConechy’s Tyre Service one
of the highest profile domestic transactions.
Advisors included PwC for Halfords and
Grant Thornton Corporate Finance for
McConechy’s shareholders.
In the professional services sector fund
management firm Brooks Macdonald
acquired Edinburgh-based Cornelian Asset
Managers in a £39m deal that will add
around £1.4bn of funds to its portfolio. Stock
market-listed Brooks Macdonald highlighted
Cornelian’s attractions as a well-established
wealth manager with “national distribution
reach and a track record of profitable growth”.
Employment law specialist Law at Work
(LAW) was bought by Marlowe Group in a
deal that will enable the Scottish-based legal
firm to widen its services and accelerate UK
expansion plans. The transaction, worth up
to £10.3m, follows years of strong growth for
LAW. Chairman Magnus Swanson says the
“deal propels the strongest consultancy in our
field in Scotland on to a national stage”.
David Beveridge and Colm Kerr of
MacDonald Henderson and Neil Grimmond
of Craig Corporate advised LAW on the deal.
In other UK deals, business angel
investment group Archangels sold its 25 per
cent shareholding in Bellshill-headquartered
document outsourcing specialist, Critiqom,
as part of the disposal of the business to
Leicester’s Opus Trust Communications.
Scottish firms also hit the acquisition
trail. Sir Brian Souter’s family investment
vehicle Souter Investments completed the
acquisition of a majority stake in ICT services
provider Stone Group in an equity and debt
refinancing of the business. The deal saw
private equity investor RJD Partners realise
its investment which was acquired via a
management buyout of Stone Group in 2008.
Dickson Minto acted as legal advisors
for Souter Investments which also sold its
controlling stake in property information
group OneSearch Direct during the period.
In other deals, Glasgow-headquartered
engineering firm JWF Process Solutions
gained a UK-wide operational footprint
with the acquisition of Manchester-based
Stream Measurement in a deal advised on by
MacDonald Henderson. The combined group
has a turnover in excess of £10m and 37 staff.
Edinburgh’s Cairngorm Capital also
increased its position in the building supplies
sector in the south of England with a deal to
acquire Chandlers Building Supplies.
In an all-Aberdeen deal Coretrax, the
specialist well construction and intervention
company, acquired Churchill Drilling Tools.
Coretrax secured a significant investment
from private equity firm Buckthorn Partners
to pave the way for growth.
Other all-Scottish deals included Glasgow
whisky blender and bottling business Douglas
Laing & Co moving into distilling with the
acquisition of Perthshire-based Strathearn
For us, and it seems some
of our fellow Scottish
dealmakers, 2019 was a great
year and 2020 looks set to
deliver more of the same
Donald Munro, Harper Macleod
University of Edinburgh spin-out Invizius
celebrate raising £2.75m
Snappy Shopper raise a seven-
figure sum in seed capital
Q4 DEALS: OVERVIEW