Manufacturing rules private equity

The study by Equistone Partners in the North revealed that manufacturing firms accounted for 32 per cent of the region’s private equity transactions over the last three years.

Since January 2010, the region has witnessed 38 private equity deals in the manufacturing sector with a total value of £155m, out of 118 Yorkshire private equity deals in all.

Significant deals included Equistone’s £75m secondary buyout of Leeds-based specialist glass manufacturer Allied Glass in August 2010. Yorkshire’s second most buoyant sector for private equity deals was wholesale, retail and repair, with 21 private equity buyouts, worth £739m.

Yorkshire’s business and financial services sector, fuelled by the relatively buoyant Leeds economy, accounted for 17 private equity buyouts in the region, worth a total of £279m. Technology, media and telecoms (TMT) accounted for only five per cent of Yorkshire deals.