UK M&A Market Activity Year End 2024

The 2024 M&A Review, compiled by Experian MarketIQ, was released at the end of February and detailed UK merger & acquisition activity during 2024.

As in previous years, we've extracted the data and fed it into our long-term review.  This helps us to get a broader picture of M&A activity, to identify growing or contracting sectors, and to see the impact of geopolitical and global events on M&A, here in the UK.

We can now review and compare 6 years of deal volumes and values. Originally, we planned to monitor the figures each year to see if a return to pre-Covid levels was evident.  However, we've also had to factor in the ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza and the impact that has had on global economies and subsequently, UK M&A.

First up, we take a look at the volume of deals for 2024 and as far back as 2019...

UK DEALS BY VOLUME - LAST 6 YEARS

The first notably positive take is that all sectors have seen a year on year increase in deal volumes.  2024 did start slowly, but there was a surge of deals in the second half of the year that really drove up the numbers.

The Health sector witnessed the highest increase of 20% aided by a number of completions in health services and pharma/life sciences.

Construction was another sector performing well with a 14% increase in deal volumes, partially helped by the rise in demand for modular and off-site construction companies.

Positive signs for all sectors and worth noting that activity is on the increase for anyone considering a sale in 2025.

UK DEALS BY VALUE - LAST 6 YEARS

We ran the same exercise looking at the total value of deals in each sector.

Every sector (bar Support Services) witnessed a year-on-year increase in the value of completed deals.  Again, the Health and Construction sectors saw the largest rises with a whopping 220% and 77% increase in deal values.

Jill Turner, Research Manager at Experian said:

“After a subdued opening, our new figures show a welcome upturn in UK M&A activity in 2024, with stabilizing interest rates and lower inflation fuelling an increase in strategic borrowing and deal volume accelerating as the year progressed.

Businesses pressed hard to finalise transactions ahead of October’s Budget and heightened activity across a wide range of key sectors and metrics culminated in record-breaking deal volume in the final quarter.

Meanwhile, a surge in high-value M&A continued throughout the year, with corporate bidders and private equity sponsors competing for top-tier assets, and we saw a string of public companies taken private in multi-billion pound transactions - along with numerous big-ticket strategic deals in the financial services and telecoms space.

Investment levels were also on the rise, especially in the UK's booming technology sector, while on the sell-side, there were pleasing signs of stronger exit activity after a long lull.

Looking forward, some uncertainties remain, and our initial figures suggest a relatively slow start to 2025. As ever, access to high quality deal data remains of key importance in driving informed decisions - and lasting value - in the M&A space.”

CONCLUSIONS

There were 7,492 transactions announced last year, up by 11% from the 6,762 deals agreed in 2023, representing the UK's highest annual volume since 2018.

Private equity-backed deals were on the up last year too, with an 18% upturn in buy-out volume - including a soaring secondary market - and a 6% upturn in the number of venture capital investments.

We've witnessed first hand that the demand from trade and private equity-backed buyers hasn't waned, especially at the start of 2025 where we have spoken to a large number of business owners who recognise a stability in the market, meaning now is good time to explore their exit options with more conviction.

If you're considering whether now is the right time to sell or exit within your sector, we're on hand to give you advice and guidance.

All conversations are in complete confidence.