Business Services

Q1 2023 saw 143 deals in the Business Services sector. This quarter’s number is slightly higher than the previous but generally consistent with the level of deals in the past three quarters since its peak in Q2 2022.

The most significant deal in the last quarter was the take-private of listed waste services business Biffa by Energy Capital Partners in deal quoted as worth £2.1 billion. This represented a 28% premium to the share price quoted in June 2022 when ECP’s interest was first disclosed. This was attributed to a number of near term projects and investments, including in waste-to-energy, that hadn’t yet contributed to earnings.

This diverse sector remains the #1 for M&A activity across all UK sectors with continuing strong interest from Private Equity.  Consolidation remains a theme with operators looking to increase market share and drive growth.

From a Restructuring perspective we have increased our rating from ‘moderate’ to ‘high’ as at Q2 2023. We’ve observed increasing challenges in lower operating costs whilst employee and other input costs remain high due to the recent increased inflation rates.