deals
Sale of eSight Energy Group
PEMCF acted as lead adviser on the sale of eSight Energy to BID Equity, a German private equity firm.
Transaction trends
For deal values within the sub-£100m range, 2022 saw a record total deal value of £3.5bn for the UK TMT sector, a 5.8% increase from the previous high of £3.3bn in 2021. Total deal volume declined 10.9% from 560 to 499 year-on-year.
Whist there was a decline in total deal volume, there was a growing interest from international investors in the UK TMT market. In contrast to Western Europe, which experienced a decline in inward investment of 3.4%, investment in the UK rose by 4.6% in 2022. This is advantageous to business sellers as trade buyers tend to pay a premium price for strategic purposes such as expanding their geographic footprint.
One of the biggest changes to the UK's TMT sector is the increasing importance of software and cloud computing companies. With remote and flexible working becoming the norm in many areas of the economy, businesses have had to invest heavily in digital infrastructure to keep up with the demands of their employees, suppliers, and customers. This has led to a rise in M&A activity in the software and cloud industries, with companies such as IBM, Salesforce and Microsoft acquiring smaller firms to expand their product portfolios.