The Scottish M&A market has remained resilient throughout Q 4 19 with positive momentum being fuelled by rising valuations and attractive financing opportunities.
Despite the growing geopolitical uncertainties and
wider economic slowdowns experienced throughout 2019 M&A and Fundraising activity across Scotland has not been frustrated with investment flows and the return of overseas buyers prevailing throughout the year
From an Oil Gas perspective, deal flow has slowed slightly towards the end of the year with less Private Equity ( backed transactions in comparison to previous quarters but the Majors continue to take a disciplined approach to capital and operating expenditure with a resultant focus on the disposal of non-strategic assets Such a focus has resulted in the exit from the North Sea of oil Majors where the efforts are on restoring confidence in the equity markets by withdrawing from high-cost low-value regions of production.
Despite this, a sign of renewed confidence in the North Sea was Aberdeen based SCF Partners’ deal for Peterhead based Score Group plc for 120 m and newly formed Waldorf Partners’ purchase of producing North
Sea fields through the acquisition of Endeavour Energy UK The deal provides Waldorf with a 25 68 and 30 stake in the Alba and Bacchus fields.
Elsewhere, Software Technology continued to see significant investment from both overseas and domestic buyers with notable transactions including US-based Jonas Software’s acquisition of leading software
inspection and workforce mobilisation business Motion Software Fundraising activity in the sector showed no sign of relinquishing with Edinburgh based wireless communications provider Purelifi raising 15 m in a Series B investment round led by Tamasek and the Scottish Investment Bank, whilst software development and leading Internet of Things (provider IoTech Systems) raised 6 m from Dell Technologies Capital.
Other notable deals across the quarter included Halfords’ acquisition of McConechys Tyre Services, a deal that allows over 10 m Halfords customers to now be within a 25-minute drive of a McConechys test centre, and
Indigo Vision’s acquisition of Agoralys a security network software provider based in Portugal.
As we head into Q 1 2020 we continue to maintain strong positive momentum with a healthy pipeline of deal opportunities and we will continue to invest time and resources with a view to initiating strategically compelling transactions for our clients.
Follow the link to download a full report of the deals covered by the AAB Deals+ Q4 Report:
