13th January 2017

Geldards and Capital Law recognised as most active Welsh advisors

A view on the most active legal and financial advisers in the Welsh mergers and acquisitions (M&A) market in 2016 has been given in a new report by Experian.

Capital Law was the most active legal adviser according to Experian’s data, working on 12 transactions in 2016. Greenaway Scott and Geldards were close behind, with 11 and ten deals respectively.

The value table was topped by DLA Piper, which advised on £242m-worth of deals during the period, just ahead of Blake Morgan with £225m and Latham & Watkins with £170m.

As in 2015, Broomfield & Alexander was named by Experian as the most active financial adviser, participating in 16 deals. Gambit Corporate Finance was next  with 11 transactions, ahead of Investec with seven.

Investec topped the value table advising on £249m of deal value. Rothschild advised on transactions valued at £208m while Zeus Capital worked on £131m-worth of deals.

In total, 227 deals were recorded in Wales in 2016, a 22 per cent increase on the 185 announced in 2015. Experian said this was the first time the figure had passed the 200 mark in its ten-year review period.

The total value of transactions also increased to £1.4bn in the last 12 months, in comparison with £1.3bn in 2015.

The largest deal was Watkins Jones’ flotation on Aim, which raised £131m for the developer.