Mills & Reeve’s corporate team in Birmingham put in a strong performance during the second half of 2014 to finish the year on a high.
In the six months from June to December the team completed 14 deals with a total value of £250 million.
Among the deals the team advised on was the £100 million restructuring and offshoring of commercial property development company Folkes Holdings (UK) Limited; acting for Partnerships in Care, one of the largest independent providers of mental health services and the largest provider of medium secure mental health hospitals in the UK, on the acquisition of five separate businesses; and advising the management team of Eley Limited on a £42 million LDC backed management buyout from global engineering business IMI plc.
Eley is a world-renowned manufacturer of rounds for the target shooting market and its Tenex product has helped secure a significant number of medals at major shooting events and competitions, including the London 2012 Olympics.
Mills & Reeve’s corporate team also advised Tradebe, a waste management company headquartered in Spain, on the multi million acquisition of Scotoil Services, the Aberdeen-based provider of specialist environmental process and disposal services to the UK oil and gas industry.
Peter McLintock, partner in Mills & Reeve’s corporate team in Birmingham, said: “12 months ago things looked very different on the M&A front. Confidence was on an upward trend but it was shaky and people were cautiously optimistic. Opportunities had begun to emerge where sellers’ and buyers’ aspirations were basically aligned but lots of hard work was required to round off the edges.
“The second half of 2014 saw that confidence and opportunity marry up to produce a solid pipeline of transactions for our clients that were strategic, opportunistic or in some cases, potentially life-changing. We were delighted to play our part in bringing these to fruition.”
