Corporate Finance Annual Review 2022

2022: a year in review

FRP Corporate Finance annual review

A reflection on 2022 from
FRP Corporate Finance

2022 was another strong year for FRP Corporate Finance. Building on a positive 2021, our team supported businesses through changing market conditions and advised on a greater breadth of exciting and significant mandates.

In 2022, market trends were initially optimistic and then subsequently impacted by changing geopolitical and economic headwinds. In the first half of the year, the positive outlook and economic growth prompted a surge of deal activity.

In the third quarter, however, there was a general slowdown as businesses reacted to rising inflation and economic instability driven by UK government policy.

Despite this, as advisers, our pipeline remained strong throughout, as we supported mid-market businesses at every stage of the corporate lifecycle.

Building on success

In this video Matthew Flower, Simon Sherliker and Simon Davies reflect on deal activity in 2022 and look at our full year of deal numbers, sector activity, international trends, private equity appetite, and predictions for 2023 deal activity.

2022 in summary

84 deals
closed

2.9

£2.9 billion
deal value

1.35

£1.35 billion
debt raised

Private equity update

Just over half of the deals we supported in 2022 involved private equity investment, so appetite and access to capital continues to be strong from this segment of the market. There has certainly been a flight to quality this year, with investors typically more discerning about where they deploy their capital. There has also been a greater focus on driving buy-and-build strategies.

In Debt advisory 75 per cent of transactions included financial sponsor backing from private equity.

Of deals involved private equity firms

Cross border activity

2022 was a broadly positive year for cross-border M&A activity, and our experience at FRP Corporate Finance operating in the mid-market (deals up to £100 million) reflected this: 2022 saw 50 per cent of our disposals go to overseas buyers, compared with just 20 per cent in 2021.

Following the challenges posed by the pandemic, we relished the opportunity to pick back up with contacts in major international markets – including those that have had greater interest in the UK since Brexit, such as the US.

Of disposals were cross-border

Top 5 sectors

We have seen certain sectors with strong activity levels, including healthcare and pharmaceuticals (34 per cent), technology (21.5 per cent), business services, and more specifically tech-enabled business services (18 per cent). Perhaps indicative of the types of owner-managed business that we work with in the mid-market, we have also seen consistently strong activity in industrials and manufacturing.

In the consumer, retail and leisure sector, while there was a clear slowdown in the second half of the year, businesses with strong propositions remained attractive.

Healthcare & pharmaceuticals

Technology

Business services

Industrials and manufacturing

Retail, consumer & leisure

M&A market backdrop

A year of two halves

In this video Corporate Finance Partner Clive Hatchard
explores the M&A market backdrop, key areas for investors and what influences are shaping and driving activity.

Deal walk through

A timeline of key deals

The FRP Corporate Finance and Debt Advisory team explore nine notable deals from 2022, including the sale of Storagebase to Storage King, the sale of ProspectSoft to The Access Group, the acquisition of McKesson UK by AURELIUS and the sale of BTC Activewear to New Wave Group AB.

2022 - a year in review

2022: a year in review

In our latest publication our Corporate Finance and Debt Advisory teams reflect on 2022 and offer insight into 2023 with their predictions for the year ahead.

Our Partners share last year’s key highlights following a year of further growth and draw on their experience to analyse the market backdrop, M&A activity and cross-border transactions. You can also find a closer look at some of the exemplary deals completed across the UK and beyond, by our team.

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