MarktoMarket Breakfast seminar

On the 29th of April, MarktoMarket hosted its third breakfast seminar of the year, this time in Manchester. Doug Lawson, CEO and Co-Founder of MarktoMarket, was joined by Jonathan Boyers, Managing Director and Head of Alvarez & Marsal’s Corporate Finance practice in EMEA.

Key themes

Doug’s presentation focused on corporate finance trends and activity in the North West. In 2024, there were 583 deals in the North West; an increase of 15.7% compared to 2023. Surprisingly, deal value trended downward to £8.6bn in 2024.

When analysing North West fundraising activity, MarktoMarket reports a decrease in deal volume in 2024 compared to 2023, however, total equity raised was up from £1.27bn in 2023 to £2.19bn in 2024.

Reflecting on 2024, some of the most active trade buyers were Palletower, Meadow Bay Villages and Streets Chartered Accountants. PE buyers included BGF, IK Partners and Bluestone Group, while Kids Planet, Perspective Managing Wealth and JM Glendinning were the most acquisitive PE-backed buyers.

Jonathan shared how A&M began its consultancy journey in 1983, how it has grown to expand its reach in international markets and how to maintain such high levels of growth as an advisory firm.

Jonathan and Doug discussed how capital from PE is trickling down into smaller businesses through buy-and-build vehicles, buyer and seller sentiment, legal services in M&A and the friction between audit and advisory functions.

Thank you to all those who attended. A special thanks to Jonathan Boyers and those from Alvarez & Marsal for joining us in Manchester. For information on upcoming breakfast seminars, please email bradley.evans@marktomarket.io.

Watch a video from the event here

MARKTOMARKET

MarktoMarket collects rich data on private businesses, particularly in the small and mid-market. Our easily searchable database allows our advisory, private equity and corporate customers to identify, analyse and price investments and monitor market trends to create their own content.

MarktoMarket’s auditable data gives users the confidence that they are dealing with intelligence that can be trusted.

To continue the discussions about how data can support your business, contact Olga Melnyk at olga@marktomarket.io.