Accountancy firm Anderson Anderson & Brown (AAB) notched up 52 deals worth a total of more than £500million during 2017.
The transactions were across a wide range of sectors, including oil and gas, construction, food and drink, technology, retail and support services.
It is the fourth successive year in which Aberdeen-based AAB has completed more than 50 deals, while in terms of value, the latest total is up by about 50% from 2016.
The 2017 figures were boosted by an increase in the number of oil and gas deals, which rose from 15 to 21 in the period as greater market stability encouraged a more positive environment for mergers and acquisitions (M&As).
Douglas Martin, head of corporate finance at the firm, said the overall deals result was “testament to our ability to adapt to
the changing market dynamics to initiate and deliver transactions both across Scotland and further afield”. He added: “It was very welcome to see increased M&A activity in the oil and gas services sector in the final quarter of 2017 and we are highly encouraged by the current strong pipeline of deals across the UK going into 2018.”
Major deals involving AAB last year included the management buy-out of metal recycling specialists John Lawrie Group (JLG), supported by Rubicon Partners and Grovepoint.
Announced in November, the JLG deal saw the business transfer from a majority shareholder, the Meldrum family, who had owned it since the 1980s. The value of the transaction was undisclosed.
JLG – founded in 1930 by metal merchant John Lawrie – has operations in Aberdeen, Montrose, Evanton near Invergordon, and Houston in the US.
AAB was also at the heart of the acquisition of Cheshire-based online children’s gift retailer Mousehouse Gifts by Regency Hampers and the takeover of facilities management firm Resolutions Ground Maintenance, of Denny, near Falkirk, by Aberdeen firm Contract Solutions Grampian.
Other deals included the sale of Inverurie company Scotframe Timber Engineering to French multinational Saint Gobain for an undisclosed sum, while AAB also advised oilfield equipment supplier Harran on a “strategic collaboration” with fellow energy services firm OEG Offshore.
AAB was formed in 1990 and has gone on to complete more than 500 M&A deals, worth a total of more than £5billion. It was recently ranked best in Scotland for the number of corporate transactions over the past 12 years, having completed 43 during 2016 alone.