UK - Prices steady, deals down

Deal volume fell in Q4 2008 by more than 50% compared to the same period in 2007 from 1,035 to 494, while against Q3 2008 it was down by 26%. Trade sales fell by 52%. Overall, deal numbers have dropped by 70% since Q1 2008.

The PEPI, which shows earnings multiples paid by private equity, was 11.6x, up by 0.4x compared to the previous quarter. The PCPI, which shows comparible figures for acquisitions by trade buyers, found that the prices for private companies remained the same as Q3's index at 11.5 times.

However, the proportion of non-disclosed deal values rose from a two-year average of 36% to 66% in Q4, leading to the possiblity that the indices stability could be indicative of vendors being unwilling to publish the actual value of their deals and not a stability in prices across the market.

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• Performance
• UK / Ireland