The corporate and banking teams at law firm Shakespeare Martineau have supported a record-breaking £4.6bn worth of deals during 2023, including almost half a billion pounds’-worth of deals in the West Midlands alone.
Experts in mergers and acquisitions, fast-growth businesses, funding and finance, Shakespeare Martineau’s national team of more than 80 lawyers enjoyed an increase in activity and value in 2023. Sector highlights include energy, infrastructure and renewables, technology, med tech and healthcare.
Michael Stace, partner and head of corporate, said: “The calendar year of 2023 was another strong year for our corporate team. Despite the challenging market conditions and the fact that most transactions are taking longer to close, we managed to increase both the volume and value of matters we advised on in 2023 compared to 2022.
“I am very proud of this achievement given the UK M&A market actually experienced a material reduction in volume and value in 2023, and it is testament to the hard work of our national team and the investments we have made in it.”
In addition to larger deals, the firm’s corporate team is taking on significantly more complex deals, such as Helm Godfrey’s sale to Hurst Point Group in 2023, and the takeover of gold mining company Tulla Resources. The firm’s single largest deal came in at £1.2 billion for an undisclosed fund manager.
Michael added: “2024 will be an interesting year but we remain optimistic, are still seeing a decent level of activity and new enquiries and have plans for further investments.”
