BGL Announces New Global M&A UK Partner
Brown Gibbons Lang & Company, a leading independent middle market investment banking firm, is pleased to welcome Noble & Company (“Noble”) which formally joins the Global M&A partnership as its UK partner in October 2007.
Global M&A’s focus is on domestic and cross-border mid-market transactions, valued at between €10 million and €250 million. The rapidly expanding cross-border M&A market continues to accelerate at a record pace due to the benefits of geographic diversification, the availability of good acquisition candidates and easier access to financing in certain countries. The evolution of the private equity industry also contributes to the need for global M&A advisory services.
In the first half of 2007, the value of mid market M&A transactions increased by 15.4% to $440 billion (€312.2 billion). Within this, Europe accounts for almost 40% of deals (Source: Thomson Financial). In addition, companies are increasingly seeking to raise capital overseas. For example, in the first half of 2007, £1.2 billion (€1.72 billion) was raised on AIM by 39 non UK-based companies.
Research also shows that the proportion of cross-border mid-market M&A activity, deals worth over £50 million (€71.69 million) in value with a UK leg, is increasing. This time last year the proportion of cross-border deals to UK deals was roughly half. Today, cross-border M&A activity actually accounts for 75% of mid-market deal flow in the UK (Source: Mergermarket).
“We carefully evaluated potential partners in the UK over the past six months and determined that Noble, with their access to the AIM market and strong M&A experience was the best fit for our partnership,“ said Michael Gibbons, chairman of Global M&A and senior managing director & principal, Brown Gibbons Lang & Company.
“Global M&A prides itself in inviting only best-of-breed firms into our partnership, and in Noble we now have the premier independent UK investment bank as our partner. Our clients will benefit from Noble’s superb M&A capabilities and notable access to the UK capital markets.”
Noble is the corporate finance advisory and broking arm of Noble Group, an independent investment banking group founded in 1980, with over 100 employees based in London and Edinburgh. Noble provides integrated corporate finance and broking services to fast growth mid-market companies. Specialist corporate finance teams offer strategic advice on transactions, fundraising and M&A across five core sectors – technology, financial institutions, consumer, business & support services, and natural resources & energy.
“International capability is essential to today’s M&A market. We are delighted to become the UK partner to the excellent members of Global M&A around the world, enabling first-class client service on an international basis. The growth in London’s capital markets for international businesses offers exciting opportunities to clients of all 36 members of Global M&A,” said John Llewellyn-Lloyd, Chief Executive of Noble.
Global M&A partners have completed over 1,000 transactions with an aggregate deal value of over €25 billion since 2000.
About Brown Gibbons Lang & Company
Brown Gibbons Lang & Company is a leading independent investment bank serving middle market companies and their owners throughout the U.S. and internationally. BGL’s professionals are experts in mergers & acquisitions, debt & equity placements, and financial restructurings. BGL is the U.S. partner in Global M&A, one of the world’s leading partnerships of independent middle market financial advisory firms focusing on cross-border transactions. For more information, please visit www.bglco.com.