The Press and Journal (Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire)
Accountants sign off on lucky seven deals
Finance: Firm’srecordmonthlysuccessoverrangeofsectors
Accountancy firm Anderson Anderson & Brown (AAB) said yesterday it had completed a record number of deals in October, taking the total value of transactions for the year to date to more than £400million.
The Aberdeen- based accountancy firm signed off seven deals last month alone.
Business transacted during the first 10 months of 2017 was worth 50% more than at the same stage last year.
October’s deals covered a range of sectors, including oil and gas, construction, food and drink, retail and support services.
Among them was the
“Anencouraging period of mergersand acquisitions dealactivity”
sale of Inverurie company Scotframe Timber Engineering to French multinational Saint Gobain for an undisclosed sum.
Another saw AAB advising oilfield equipment supplier Harran striking a “strategic collaboration” deal with fellow energy servcies firm OEG Offshore.
Douglas Martin, head of corporate finance, AAB, said: “It has been an encouraging period of M&A (mergers and acquisitions) deal activity.
“We are keen to build on the positive momentum, and have a strong pipeline of deals throughout Scotland and further afield for the remainder of the year and into 2018 which is highly encouraging.”
AAB was formed in 1990 and has gone on to complete more than 500 M&A deals, worth a total of more than £5billion. The firm was recently ranked best in Scotland for the number of corporate deals achieved over the past 12 years, having completed 43 publicly announced transactions during 2016 alone.
Its total for last year was half as many again as the next busiest firm.
AAB’s 2016 deals included the sale of Ellon-based Sengs Subsea Engineering Solutions to Pryme Group of Dundee, and the acquisition of Livingston electronics company Optocap Holdings by Germany’s TUV Nord Group.