The Square Mile’s army of bankers and brokers hope the chaos sparked by Covid-19 will bring a rush of deal-making and fees.
One, currently advising on two deals, said transactions on ice since the coronavirus outbreak were starting to take shape: “Private equity (PE) firms have got huge dry powder and are looking to invest. There’s a lot of UK companies undervalued and we’ll see PE and trade buyers sniffing around.
“That said, PE firms have been a bit surprised by how much the share prices of companies they were tracking before lockdown have bounced back.”
Dwayne Lysaght, co-head of M&A for EMEA at JP Morgan, said: “The number and volume of European deals valued at over a billion dollars in June and July were back at levels we saw pre-Covid. In the U.K., we’ve seen just a handful of larger deals in recent months, but the trend is upwards, and we expect it to continue that way.”
Investment banks have already enjoyed a strong year aided by more than 130 firms raising over £15 billion through fundraisers. However, the number of fundraisers has slowed over the last month as investor fatigue and summer holidays kick in.
There remains a number of large, complex fundraisers still expected including raisers from British Airways owner IAG, aero engines maker Rolls-Royce and shopping centre owner Hammerson.
