Corporate deal round-up H2 2024
The closing half of 2024 has seen electoral sea changes from both sides of the Atlantic, as Labour continue to drive its agenda for change following the landslide victory in the UK, and one Donald Trump kicks off his second term in office. Both have had, and will continue to have, material impact on the corporate landscape in the UK and internationally. As we return back to reality from our Christmas and New Year breaks, we wanted to take this opportunity to reflect on 2024, and consider how the impact of global political changes will impact the market this year.
For a spotlight on some of our more notable deals carried out by our top-ranked Corporate group in the closing six months of 2024, please click here.
Businesses have had to remain agile through 2024, as they have faced a concoction of global political change, inflationary pressures and continued conflict. Amongst this uncertain and fast-changing landscape, perhaps characterised best by a mad rush to get deals done ahead of Rachel Reeves’ autumn budget, it has been welcome to see the modest global recovery in M&A activity, aided by a steady easing of interest rates worldwide. Global M&A volume grew 8% year on year up to $3.4tn, driven in part by a late surge of “mega deals” ($10bn+) – nine taking place in December alone. We were delighted to see PE and VC deals share this resilience, with a growth in global deal value of almost 25% year on year, though the number of transactions fell.
Activity within the technology sector played a key role in this modest recovery, something we have seen with our own work in the latter half of 2024. Key deals in H2 this year include advising the founders of AI agricultural platform, Observe Technologies on its acquisition by AKVA; Nortal on their acquisition of 3DOT Solutions; and Puma on their exciting £11m investment in AI company, Aveni. We also played a key role in Hibbett’s $1.1bn takeover by JD Sports, advising on key UK aspects of the transaction beside US counsel, Bass, Berry & Sims. We are uniquely positioned as a firm to support on the UK aspects of key US company expansion deals, and look forward to the opportunity of doing more of these deals in 2025.
Our sports team continue to remain busy as the appetite for global sports investment remains rife – we have even seen the NFL getting in on the action, with their first teams – the Buffalo Bills and Miami Dolphins - shaking hands with private equity. Private investment into sport shows no sign of slowing and continues to develop as an exciting sector of activity. Notable sports deals this half year include advice to Hudl on its acquisition of Statsbomb Services and on the acquisition of Southend United by COSU. We don’t expect to see a slowdown in 2025, with numerous areas of global activity in this area, particularly within the US and the Middle East. As one of the leading sports corporate practices in the UK, we are already advising on several acquisitions in the sector – more to come we hope in later editions.
What’s next for 2025?
H2 saw two long-awaited interest rates cuts in the UK, a move mirrored by drops in the US and Europe, and whilst the economy is still in a vulnerable state, we hope to see that cycle continue and pave the way for further M&A activity through 2025. Whilst it will take time to reach the welcome highs of M&A activity of the recent past, green shoots are starting to grow. The clarity of political leadership on both sides of the pond – and relative optimism in the US for Donald Trump’s typically corporation-friendly policy strategy – though global business will be anxiously awaiting the impacts of potential tariffs - combined with the long-welcomed early signs of positive resolution of some conflicts globally, we hope to see a settling landscape for strategic dealmakers to give them the confidence to push their acquisition strategies.
Whilst we eagerly await details of his plan, the Prime Minister’s ambition to position the UK as a global AI superpower will only continue to drive tech activity – a trend we have already seen through 2024, with a number of AI transactions. Donald Trump too has promised huge investment in the space as he seeks to advance similar strategic AI ambitions for the US. Whilst many of the major global tech players remain muted in their own M&A strategies as they await regulatory developments, many companies are continuing to adapt to expand their technology capabilities, particularly across data privacy and AI infrastructure, and particularly within penetrating customer sectors (such as healthcare and financial services). We expect this to continue, with companies pursuing an acquisitive strategy to obtain these capabilities and encourage further growth. This growth in AI capability and usage will be equally met by the growth in energy capacity and real estate space required to power that activity – all areas where we as a firm are particularly well positioned to support.
Within the capital markets space, the standout item for the second half of 2024 was the Government’s proposed Private Intermittent Securities and Capital Exchange System (PISCES) - a new type of regulated trading platform, that will allow for the intermittent trading of private company shares on a multilateral system. PISCES forms a key component of the Labour Government’s strategy for growth and a reignition of the UK capital markets. As a leading player in the capital markets advisory space – particularly within the AIM market – we continue to monitor developments in this space and its potential impacts on our clients.
There is certainly room for cautious optimism amongst what might seem like a gloomy global backdrop. The building blocks of an M&A recovery are starting to come to fruition, across traditional, private equity and private capital routes and we look forward to supporting deal makers as they continue their growth trajectories through 2025.
