M&A Trends – Reflecting on 2024

What a year!

What a year 2024 was!  In Europe we saw major political changes in the summer across several major markets, most notably including the arrival of a new Labour government in the UK and significant and ongoing political intrigue in France on the back of the two rounds of legislative elections. Beyond Europe, both India and USA reached the pinnacle of their election cycle, with Narendra Modi retaining power in India (albeit with a reduced majority and a loss of outright control by the BJP) while Donald Trump secured a return to the Whitehouse for 2025. Other major markets in election mode included Pakistan, South Korea and Mexico.

Aligned to this, rhetoric around national security and anti-trust appeared to tighten in many markets, with governments taking a more active role in reviewing M&A across multiple sectors.

Despite this, M&A markets remained robust, and I am delighted to say 2024 was by some margin a record year for the Arrowpoint Advisory team. By year end our headcount has grown to 60 and, with the support of our Rothschild & Co colleagues we have significantly expanded our London office.

Cyber Security & Supply Chain

Activity was brisk across all of our sectors in 2024 but, given recent world events have put a focus on these areas as major business risks, it should be no surprise that cyber security and supply chain services in particular were two areas where there were incredibly high transaction volumes within the team, as highlighted in the deals below:

SiXworks has been acquired by IBM

Business Services

SiXworks is a highly specialised digital experimentation consultancy, focused on cutting-edge technology solutions for the UK defence sector.

Security Alliance has been acquired by CSIS Security Group

Telecoms, Media and Technology

Founded in London in 2007, SecAlliance, a CREST certified provider, is Europe's leading threat intelligence provider.

Pentest People has been acquired by GRC Group

Telecoms, Media and Technology

Pentest People is a disruptive cyber-security business focused on bringing the benefits of penetration-testing-as-a-service (PTaaS) to UK clients.

Tower Cold Chain has been acquired by Cold Chain Technologies

Industrials

Founded in 1999, Tower designs, manufactures, and operates a fleet of advanced passive reusable temperature-controlled containers.

GFS, a leading provider of multi-carrier parcel technology and services, has been acquired by ILG, part of Yusen Logistics

Business Services

Established more than 20 years ago, GFS are the pioneers of ECM technology and multi-carrier parcel services.

Elanders has acquired Bishopsgate

Business Services

Elanders is a Swedish publicly listed company which offers global supply chain management solutions.

AI and Energy

It was also great to see specialist AI service providers emerge as a target group with our TMT team getting an excellent result for their clients at AI-enabled audit automation provider Engine B and our Energy Transition & Infrastructure team had another great year, including another landmark deal in network battery storage for Elcogen and the successful sale of AgilityEco, a critical spoke in the process of upgrading domestic energy efficiency to Group M.

AI leader Engine B has been acquired by US firm CLA

Telecoms, Media and Technology

Engine B, a next-generation AI-driven, UK-based technology company that specialises in delivering generative AI solutions.

AgilityEco has been acquired by M Group Services

Energy Transition and Infrastructure

AgilityEco is a home decarbonisation delivery platform with a strong social and environmental purpose.

Elcogen plc secures €45m strategic investment from HD Hyundai

Special Situations

Elcogen plc is the European manufacturer of technology that enables delivery of efficient, affordable green hydrogen and emission-free electricity.

Wider M&A Activity

Consumer successes included the sale of leading leisure retailer White Stuff, while our Industrials team advised Advent on the Sale of nuclear controls business Ultra Energy to Curtiss Wright. Our market-leading Business Services team continued to be our largest sector by transaction volumes while notable success in Healthcare included Inspirit’s acquisition of Wilmington Healthcare and GBUK’s acquisition of Severn Healthcare.

Business Design Centre and Hilton Islington Hotel have been acquired by ADNEC

Business Services

Originally the Royal Agricultural Hall dating back to 1862, BDC, a Grade II listed venue now spans a 4.5-acre freehold estate and hosts a wide array of leading events.

Advent International divests Ultra Energy to Curtiss Wright

Industrials

Ultra Energy designs and manufactures reactor protection systems, neutron monitoring systems, radiation monitoring systems, and temperature and pressure sensors.

GBUK has acquired Severn Healthcare

Healthcare

Headquartered in the UK, GBUK designs develops and distributes a comprehensive portfolio of own and third-party branded acute-setting medical devices.

Bridges exits community-focused services business Nexgen to Bidvest

Business Services

Bidvest Noonan, is the international provider of facilities services, including security, cleaning, and front-of-house solutions.

Evolve IP has been acquired by ATSG

Telecoms, Media and Technology

Evolve IP is a leading provider of essential cloud-based communications and desktop-as-a-service solutions supporting distributed workforces.

Inspirit Capital has acquired Wilmington Healthcare business

Telecoms, Media and Technology

Home to the renowned Health Service Journal, Wilmington Healthcare is also a leading provider of mission-critical data, information, events and advisory solutions.

Equity and Debt Advisory

What was especially nice this year was that as well as continuing to build our broad mandate working with entrepreneurs, family businesses, private equity investors, major corporates for all their financing, M&A and management advisory requirements, we have been able to continue to expand our public company offering. Most notably, working on the successful take private of SmartSpace Software PLC by Private Equity-backed Sign-In Solutions Inc.

Alicorn Venture Partners and Susquehanna Growth Equity have put in place a committed ARR financing package to support their take-private of Glassbox

Debt Advisory

Glassbox is a global leader in the digital customer experience market, providing a service offering used to capture, analyse and enhance the digital sessions and interactions of users.

Livingbridge invests in Kindred Education

Debt Advisory

Kindred, founded on significant experience in nurturing babies and young children, has 48 nursery locations across the UK.

Third Space raises £88.5m debt package to support the brand’s continued growth

Debt Advisory

Launched in 2001, Third Space currently operates a portfolio of nine clubs in iconic locations across London.

These are just a handful of the deals delivered in an extraordinary 2024 and we are already off to a strong start in 2025 and look forward to sharing exciting news on our expanding business soon.

As always, our business starts with our clients’ trust that we will deliver them the best possible result for their most important transaction needs. If we can help you with considering your options or planning for a future transaction, please do get in contact and best wishes for a prosperous 2025.

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