Bumper year for UK buyouts

UK buy outs during the first half of 2007 surpassed that of
the same period in 2006 by 31% and reached a total of £13.9bn, according to
figures released by the Centre for Management Buyout Research.

CMBOR, which was founded by Barclays Private Equity and Deloitte at
Nottingham University Business School, revealed that despite a slow start, 2007
was set for a bumper 12 months. However, the ongoing US sub-prime mortgage
crisis, which has panicked the financial markets and led to a drying up of
liquidity, has put a severe dampener on the sector.

“After a sluggish start to the year, private equity completions have bounced
back in Q2,” said Mark Pacitti, corporate finance partner at Deloitte.
“Notwithstanding continuing concerns over consumer confidence on the high
street, we have also seen a number of large scale secondary retail buy-outs this
year including Fat Face, Threshers and Jimmy Choo.”