Overview

Highlights from our October 2021 Valuation Barometer, covering deals and valuation multiples in UK M&A in September 2021.  Request the Executive Summary below.

Highlights

Deal volumes continued to track at elevated levels in September 2021, with gambling and software deals making headlines.

We calculated that M&A deals valued at a total of £27.5 billion were executed or announced during the month of September. This compares to a prior month total of £26.4 billion.

dEAL cOMMENTARY

It was a buoyant month for shareholders of gambling companies. The largest transaction recorded was Draftkings’ £16.4 billion bid for Entain plc (the holding company of Ladbrokes, Coral and PartyPoker).

The other newsworthy deal in the sector is the £2.9 billion takeover of William Hill’s European operations. 888 plc has fought off stiff competition from Apollo Global to win a hard-fought auction.

Spotlight Transactions

Other deals during September included:

• Luke Johnson’s Risk Capital Partners’ (RCP) exit of Gail’s Bakery in a £200 million deal which sees majority ownership transfer to Bain and EBITDA Investments.
• Vista Funds’ acquisition of Blue Prism Group for £1.1 billion.
• The acquisition of a 10% stake in Farm Foods, the frozen grocery retailer, in a deal valuing the business at an estimated enterprise value of £73 million

The smaller end of the market witnessed the following deals:

• The sale of a 20% stake in Rainford Group, a designer and manufacturer of telecoms cabinets, at an estimated enterprise value of £14 million.
• The exit of Antenova, an antennae designer, to DiscoverIE for £18.2 million.
• Australia-based education SaaS provider Technologyone’s acquisition of Scientia, a software provider focused on higher education, for £12 million.

SAMPLE COMPLETED AND ANNOUNCED m&a MULTIPLES – September 2021

Request the executive report below. Please contact olga@marktomarket.io to discuss access to the full list of deals in the MarktoMarket Valuation Barometers.

For the full list of previous 2020 / 2021 Barometers – visit our reports page.