Corporate Finance Annual Review 2023

2023: a year in review

FRP Corporate Finance annual review

Welcome to the
2023 annual review

2023 was a strong year for FRP Corporate Finance – who delivered a robust performance, in line with the rest of the market.

Building on a positive 2022, our team supported businesses through challenging macro conditions including rising inflation and interest rates, and the fallout from the mini budget, which knocked confidence and had a significant impact on the wider UK M&A market.

However, towards the end of the year, with base rates stabilising, and the longer-term outlook appearing more positive in the credit markets, we saw an uptick in completions and new mandates, indicating a return of confidence as we enter 2024.

In addition to our broad mix of deal completions, key highlights for FRP Corporate Finance in 2023 include: Winning ‘UK Corporate Finance House of the year’ at the Real Deals Private Equity Awards; the addition of two new Corporate Finance partners, Victoria Kisseleva and Tim Spooner, as well as numerous internal promotions - taking our partner headcount to 21; and, hosting the latest AICA EMEA regional meeting in London, following the appointment of Simon Davies as AICA Chairman for 2023/24.

A reflection on 2023

In this video Corporate Finance Partner Matthew Flower reflects on deal activity in 2023.

Matthew explores our full year deal numbers, sector activity, private equity appetite, and provides a valuable insight into his predictions for 2024 deal activity.

Debt Advisory update

Supporting clients in a challenging market

In this video Debt Advisory Partner Tom Cox reflects on how challenging market conditions impacted transactions in 2023.

Tom explores the full year numbers for the debt advisory team, 2023 sector trends and private equity sentiment, the mix of deal types and lending options, and the outlook for 2024 as base rates begin to stabilise.

M&A market backdrop

Signs of confidence returning in 2024

In this video Corporate Finance Partner Clive Hatchard explores the M&A market backdrop in 2023, and the current outlook for 2024.

Clive considers what influences are shaping and driving activity, key areas for investors and why Private Equity will have a key role to play in M&A activity in 2024.

2023 in summary

66 deals
closed

1.5

£1.5 billion
deal value

500

£500 million
debt raised

Private equity update

We continued to see good activity from private equity in 2023 – with 44% of our closed deals involving private equity investment. It is widely reported that activity levels in the UK PE market were down on the prior year, with preference given to investment into buy and build opportunities, rather than large platform acquisitions.

However, as market challenges began to stabilise in Q4 and an evident uptick in completions and new mandates, the view is that undoubtedly Private Equity will have a key role to play in M&A activity in 2024 given they will have dry powder to deploy in new investments.

Of deals involved private equity firms

Top 3 sectors

In 2023 we saw strong activity levels in;

Business Services (41 per cent), including professional services, consultancy, and recruitment;
Technology (24 per cent), including IT managed services and a notable return of software deals at the end of the year; and,
Industrials & Manufacturing (23 per cent) including energy, equipment manufacturing and heating & cooling.

In addition, we have closed transactions in sectors where FRP Corporate Finance have significant prior experience including fertility clinics, property & block management, martech and automotive, and niche sectors including horticulture, water treatment, e-learning, and litigation funding.

The current outlook suggests that 2024 completions will be dominated by technology, media, tech-enabled business services, healthcare, and an increase in renewable energy and ESG transactions.

Business services

Technology

Industrials and manufacturing