Throughout the year, accounting and consulting firm BDO advised on more than 400 corporate finance deals with a value of $62.21 billion
2021 was a bumper year for merger and acquisition activity in the UK. Professional services firm BDO enjoyed heightened demand for deals advisory services as a result, supporting transactions worth a combined £46 billion ($62.21 billion).
Across all deal types, 2021 was a year of rapid acceleration, with worldwide deal value climbing from $3.7 trillion in 2020 to $5.3 trillion in 2021.
This was buoyed by financial investors continuing their growing share of the landscape, closing around $1 trillion in deals. This segment includes transactions by private equity firms (which focus on mid- and large-sized deals in established companies) and venture capitalists (which focus on investments in start-ups and scale-ups).
The UK deals market was no exception to this trend – as exemplified by the demand for transaction advisory services among private equity houses in 2021.
Throughout the year, accounting and consulting firm BDO advised on more than 400 corporate finance deals with a value of £46 billion ($62.21 billion). Among these deals, transactions involving private equity accounted for 68% of the projects completed, as British markets continued to rebound following the disruption of 2020.
Peter Hemington, Head of M&A at BDO said: 2021 has been a remarkable year for dealmakers and activity has been underpinned by the resilience and ambition of the UK’s entrepreneurial businesses. Our private equity experience meant we were well placed as activity in the UK market in 2021 reached levels not seen since before the global financial crisis. We’ve seen exceptional deal values and volumes across sectors including technology and media, which continues to be one of the fastest growing areas of M&A activity for the firm.
Among the largest deals BDO was involved with, the firm acted as reporting accountant for Greencoat UK Wind, supporting its £450 million ($608.56 million) fundraise in December – as it became the first renewable infrastructure fund to list on the LSE main market.
The BDO team also supported BAE Systems with financial due diligence in its bid to join the global space race through its acquisition of In-Space Missions, a UK company that designs, builds, and operates satellites and satellite systems.
Meanwhile, the firm advised the shareholders of pet accessories brand, Omlet on its sale of a minority stake for £33 million ($44.63 million) to Piper Private Equity.