Optimism as Walker Morris sees rise in completed deals

In 2012, Walker Morris’s team acted on 120 deals, compared with 97 the year before.

Deal highlights for Walker Morris in 2012 included the acquisition of bathroom products firm Bathstore by Endless, the Leeds-based private equity firm.

John Hamer, head of the corporate group at Walker Morris, said: “It’s certainly a mixed picture at the moment. While some companies are struggling and cutting jobs, others have cash on the balance sheet and access to equity and debt which allows them to look for growth through strategic acquisitions.

“We recently saw a good example of that when our team worked with Persimmon on its acquisition of Hillreed Homes. There are certainly deals still happening – they are harder to get away but there are increased activity levels.”

Leeds-based corporate partner Debbie Jackson, added: “We have had five years to get used to the economic climate and I believe a lot of businesses have taken the view that they could sit on their hands for a long time waiting for an upturn, and it is better just to get on and do something.”

Other notable deals included the rescue of national retailer, Barratts, which was advised by an all-Yorkshire advisory team, and the secondary MBO (management buyout) of Leeds-based food group Symington’s,

Dealmakers are also finding an increasing amount of work from overseas – testament to the quality, skills and reputation of Yorkshire’s corporate finance advisory community, according to Walker Morris. Earlier in the year, Ms Jackson advised NASDAQ listed EZCorp Inc. on its $22m acquisition of a 72 per cent stake in online loan provider Cash Genie.

Ms Jackson added: “Having worked on the other side to EZCorp on a previous transaction, EZCorp chose to instruct Walker Morris rather than their usual ‘magic circle’ firm and is now a standing client of the firm. This is a great example of an international company recognising they can receive top quality advice outside of London.”

The group also recently started acting for German client BMG, the world’s fourth largest company in music rights management, to advise on its acquisition of a German music catalogue from Universal Music Group.

Richard Naish, head of the international group at Walker Morris, said: “The deal was a multi-jurisdictional one, involving assets in Germany, Sweden and Austria and demonstrates our ability to project manage cross-border transactions and lawyers in a number of international jurisdictions. Again we were able to draw on the expertise all under one roof here in Leeds, in particular our intellectual property team to deal with some complex copyright issues.”

Mr Hamer said that, while he did not expect a return to pre-2008 levels of investment, there was funding available to support the right deals. According to Mr Hamer, a number of businesses are feeling confident enough to make longer term investments and acquisitions, following the economic shocks of recent years.