Our corporate team has had an outstanding start to the year, totalling more than £4 billion in deals - a new record for the firm.
Completing an average of three deals per week in the first quarter from January to March this year, we have supported ambitious businesses with their transactions across the length and breadth of the country. The deals, spanning the East Midlands, West Midlands and South East regions, form part of recent growth plans at the firm, which aims to double in size by 2023.
The blockbuster £4 billion figure includes retail sector work, notably the recent Dr Martens float, which raised £1.3 billion in new funds at a market capitalisation of £3.7 billion. We've also supported a number of fast growing tech businesses, including Solid State, Monovate, cybersecurity start-up fcase, biotech manufacturer Legume Technology and longstanding engineering client, Avingtrans.
Highest value of deals the Midlands
As well as coming out on top as the leading firm in the Midlands in terms of deal value in the latest quarterly M&A league table by Experian, we were also one of the top three law firms in the region for the volume of transactions, completing an impressive 14 over the Q1 period.
Duncan James, head of corporate at Shakespeare Martineau said: "This high level of activity is what everyone wanted to see coming into 2021. Even though some deals were pushed through ahead of changes in the Budget, we're still seeing that money is still flowing around the country and business is largely carrying on as normal.
"There is a lot of liquidity in the market right now, and plenty of opportunity for deals, investments and cash raising. We're seeing a lot of investment activity in the engineering, biotech, manufacturing and healthcare space, particularly in the East and West Midlands markets.
"The sheer variety of sectors we've worked with across all of our offices and geographies shows the expertise we have within the corporate team and across the firm more widely. Our people are working with some of the sharpest minds in the business world, guiding industry-leading transactions.
"We're always on the lookout for fresh talent too and if anything, our first quarter this year shows that any new joiners would be involved in some incredibly interesting work."
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