UK food and beverage M&A deal volume increased across T1 2021, a report from corporate finance house Oghma Partners has revealed.
UK food and beverage M&A deal volume increased across T1 2021, a report from corporate finance house Oghma Partners has revealed.
Deal activity in T1 2021 was propelled by fears of an increase in Capital Gains Tax which was rumoured to be included in the Government’s annual Budget in March.
Many business owners were not willing to take this risk and hence accelerated their plans to exit their businesses in order to lock in value. This risk never materialised, but many commentators suspect increases in Capital Gains Tax will be addressed in the Autumn budget later this year.
Deal value for T1 2021 also experienced a significant recovery with total estimated deal value for the period of cGBP1,950.0 million. As with deal volume this marked the highest recorded deal value for any T1 period since 2017.
Deal activity from overseas buyers was particularly high, accounting for 37.9 per cent of total deal volume for the period.
Two subsectors within the UK F&B industry that were particularly active were Direct-to-Consumer (D2C) and plant-based/healthy eating. Deals involving D2C businesses accounted for c16.0 per cent of total deal volume and those involving plant-based/healthy eating products accounted for c19.0 per cent.
