Browne Jacobson dealmakers announce completion of over 130 deals worth billions in value in 2022 and eye up healthy pipeline for 2023

Browne Jacobson’s corporate finance dealmakers have announced that throughout 2022, they were instructed to advise on over 130 high profile UK and international transactions that have a combined value, in excess of £3billion.

The deals cut across various sector specialisms for the UK and Ireland law firm, including, tech, energy & infrastructure, retail & consumer, construction & real estate, health, and include advising:

• Suez SA and its shareholders on its acquisition of its former UK waste management business, Suez Recycling & Recovery UK from French business, Veolia 
• accountancy firm Cooper Parry on its agreement with Dutch based firm, Waterland Private Equity to invest in the business
• Joules founder, Tom Joules on his collaboration with high street retail giant Next 
• the management sellers of CARE Fertility (CARE) on the sale of the entire issued share capital of CARE for an undisclosed amount
• Private Equity (PE) investors, Palatine on its exit from Construction Testing Solutions (CTS) which represented a 5.8x return for the PE House
• tech enabled shipping and logistics service provider, World Options on its majority buyout by Italian headquartered MBE Worldwide (“MBE”)
• leading private equity investor, Rcapital Partners LLP (Rcapital) on its majority stake acquisition of managing general agents (MGAs), UK General Insurance Ltd (UKG) and Precision Partnership Limited (PPL) 
• on the admission of the entire issued ordinary share capital of green hydrogen technology and manufacturing group, Clean Power Hydrogen to trade on AIM, a market operated by the London Stock Exchange plc
• specialist bicycle insurer Laka on an investment from Porsche Ventures (a venture capital division of Porsche AG).

The team were also awarded various industry accolades throughout 2022 including, ‘Corporate Law Firm of the Year’ award at the East Midlands Dealmakers Awards, which also saw partner Sandra Wong win ‘Emerging Dealmaker of the Year’ – the only lawyer to win the title. In addition, the firm were named on a host of winning deals at a selection of Insider’s regional dealmakers awards and, were a recognised finalist in the ‘Regional Legal Adviser of the Year’ category at the European Private Equity Awards 2022. 

Richard Cox, partner and head of corporate finance at Browne Jacobson, said: “Whilst the start of 2022 saw a continuation of the Pandemic “boom”, we did see a slight decline in general M&A activity in the second half of the year due to increased financial challenges in the economy, including rising interest rates to curb inflation. Despite this, we continued to advise on a great mix of innovative M&A and PE related transactions, including some big-ticket ones that showcased our unwavering strength in depth and versatility, particularly in the retail, manufacturing, and tech sectors – sectors we expect to remain highly active in throughout 2023. With the ever-growing spotlight on Environmental, Social and Governance, we also envisage a growth in energy and infrastructure sector related deals too.

“On the whole, the M&A market remains robust, and we are looking forward to supporting our longstanding and new clients on a healthy pipeline of exciting deals in 2023.”

Browne Jacobson’s award-winning corporate finance practice operates from the firm’s Birmingham, London, Manchester and Nottingham offices. It is supported by over 50 corporate and banking & finance expert lawyers who advise domestic and international clients on a full spectrum of corporate issues, from major strategic transactions, such as mergers and acquisitions (M&A), private equity, venture capital and development capital investments, joint ventures and corporate reorganisations to regulated corporate work such as initial public offerings (IPOs) and cross border restructuring.