Business Weekly - Cambridge, UK

New research by Grant Thornton reveals that the value of UK acquisitions by foreign companies rose by almost 40 per cent during the third quarter of 2005 compared to Q2, with the average deal now valued at around £220m compared to £159m in the previous quarter.

Quarter 3 saw 76 acquisitions abroad by UK companies worth £7.8bn, 55 acquisitions in the UK by foreign companies worth £12.3bn and 173 acquisitions in Britain by UK companies worth £7.2bn, Mike Hughes, client service director at Grant Thornton Corporate Finance disclosed.

A total of 284 deals were on the radar of the core research and Grant Thornton’s own exploration reveals that 71 of these – 25 per cent of the total – involved East of England businesses.

Hughes said: “Cross border M&A is becoming a much more regular feature of M&A involving UK companies, now accounting for 41 per cent of all deal numbers and 72 per cent of all deal values.

“Foreign investors and UK corporates alike are looking at bigger deals and considering serious transformational moves, not tinkering with small bolt-on acquisitions but defining their businesses with bold strategic moves.

“These are creating a ripple effect across the whole market and this trend is likely to continue.”

Hughes identified a number of sectors likely to become the focus of increased M&A activity, including education, the media and entertainment sector – in particular, internet-based media deals – and the food sector, where he expects to see increased consolidation over the next six months or so, notably in the meat, fish and poultry industry.

Acquisitions featuring local companies – sometimes more than one deal in the named company’s case – involved the following businesses in Q3 of 2005:

Greene King (Bury St Edmunds)

TM Group (Brentwood)

Arakis (Gt Chesterford)

Solartron (Huntingdon)

CSR and UbiNetics (Cambridge)

Pharmagene (Royston)

Carter & Carter (Peterborough)

BioFocus (Gt Chesterford)

Plastic Systems Ltd (Ipswich)

The Seafood Company (Cromer)

EMAP (Peterborough)

Global Marine Systems (Chelmsford)

Ionix and Vernalis (Cambridge)

Xention Discovery (Cambridge)

Permacell Finesse (Witham)

NXT (Huntingdon)

Pursuit Dynamics (Royston)

Cotmanfields Ltd (Norwich)

Amino Technologies (Cambridge)

Seawheel Holdings (Ipswich)

Acambis (Cambridge)

John Dickinson Stationery (Cambridge)

Crystal Bevels (Peterborough)

CVS (UK) Ltd (Diss)

Autonomy Corporation (Cambridge)

Accord plc (Welwyn)

Hammond Heat Treatment (Basildon)

Solution Forge Ltd (Brentwood)

Abbott Healthcare (Sandy)

Ideal Shopping Direct (Peterborough)

London Asia Capital (Ongar)

Essex County Council

Chameleon BioSurfaces and iceni (Norwich)

Motorclean (Basildon)

Johnston Press (Cambridge)

Alizyme (Cambridge)

Porvair (King’s Lynn)

AVEVA Group (Cambridge)

Norwich Union

Connected Learning (Bury St Edmunds)

Xaar (Cambridge)

Integrated Building Services (Cambridge)

Health & Safety Click Ltd (Benfleet)

Polatis (Cambridge) and

Continuum Photonics (Billericay)

Sareum Holdings (Cambridge)

Prelude Trust (Cambridge)

ANT plc (Cambridge)

Antenova (Cambridge)

IP Live plc (Chelmsford)

Peerless Plastics (Thetford)

ARM Holdings (Cambridge)

CAT (Cambridge)

Hoseasons Group (Lowestoft)

Nice Tech Ltd (Cambridge)

nCipher (Cambridge)

C-MAR Group (Norwich)

Compel Group (Stevenage)

Portland Cement (Canvey Island)

Highway Insurance (Brentwood)

Genesis Home Loans (Peterborough)

Countrywide plc (Witham)

BEC Digital (Harlow)

E2V Technologies (Chelmsford)

BioProgress (Cambridge) and

Ipswich & Norwich Co-operative Society).