Average UK buyout value up 24% year-on-year

Greg Gille
@unquotenews
10 April 2015

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The average value of UK-based buyouts in the first three months of 2015 was up by nearly a quarter (24%) compared to that recorded in the corresponding period last year, according to unquote" data.

In Q1 this year, unquote" recorded an average enterprise value of £130m (34 UK transactions valued at an overall £4.4bn), against £105m in the first quarter of 2014, when 39 deals were valued at an aggregate £4.1bn.

While the year-on-year uptick is noticeable, the Q1 2015 figure is actually down by some margin on the £158m average deal value recorded in the final quarter of last year – when buyout dealflow saw a spike in both volume and overall value terms.

In fact, the average value of UK buyouts rose steadily in Q3 and Q4 last year after an initial dip in the second quarter – with the average deal value more than doubling between Q2 2014 and Q4 2014.

The increase throughout 2014 could be attributed to investors' eagerness to deploy capital in the UK – time will tell whether the dip between the last quarter of last year and the start of 2015 was just a temporary glitch, or the sign of a cool-down ahead of the country's general election in May.