As in the South, the buy-out and acquisition market is showing signs of returning. Trade buyers, private equity investors and MBO teams are approaching opportunities with more caution than at the economic high. This more cautious approach means that deals are taking longer to complete. Nevertheless, transactions are taking place and increasing demand for ABL finance underpins those deals. In the second quarter, amongst our completed deals we provided funds for two MBOs, supplying Confidential Invoice Discounting, Cashflow facilities and an Enterprise Finance Guarantee. The increase in demand in refinancing continues to provide businesses with new finance facilities which give headroom to take advantage of commercial opportunities. In the current climate, quite correctly businesses are thinking carefully about their refinance options. What they are looking for is a reliable partner and facilities that take account of their working capital requirements generated both by growth and the cyclical nature of the business. In this respect, revolving facilities such as invoice and inventory and other forms of Asset Based Lending are becoming increasingly attractive to businesses and advisors alike While it’s encouraging to see signs of returning confidence, we remain at the very early stage of a change of mindset. Businesses are concerned about the economic future and may hesitate to act on opportunities, especially where additional funding is required. Looking forward to the next three to six months, I would hope to see managers and business owners weighing their understandable caution with a greater willingness to act quickly to secure the finance they need.
We’ve seen a definite increase in deal activity over the last few months. It’s a trend that embraces a range of industries. In the third quarter of 2011, we provided funds to businesses working across a broad cross-section of the UK economy, including the automotive, aerospace, logistics, recruitment and wholesaling sectors. It was particularly heartening to see demand for finance linked both to acquisitions and to new starts, perhaps suggesting that confidence is returning to the economy’s grass roots. Acquirers have to some extent been sitting on their hands over the last few years, but now appear to be seeing and acting upon opportunities. Meanwhile, the demand for start-up finance suggests challenging economic conditions have not dampened the entrepreneurial flame of the UK business community. ABL finance is beginning to play a significant role in private equity-backed transactions. Historically, PE houses have used ABL facilities on a limited basis, but their choice and preference for ABL funding has increased substantially. This year in particular, we have had much more contact with the PE industry. And our own ability to work on large deal structures has been greatly enhanced by a closer association with our parent company ABN AMRO, following its restructuring to focus on core Northern European markets.