The U.K. private equity market dropped to its lowest level in 13 years in the fourth quarter of 2008, according to Nottingham University's Centre for Management Buyout Research, or CMBOR, with October through December buyout value down to just £994 million ($1.46 billion) compared with £5.7 billion in the same period the previous year.
It won't come as a surprise that U.K. buyout activity has declined very sharply, given the state of the market, but the conclusion that the market dropped to its lowest value since 1995 must still come as a blow to those who earlier in the year were hoping the decline could be kept to manageable levels.
But the figures are clear enough: The last comparable quarter was July 1995 to September 1995, when the total deal value was just £989 million. Meanwhile, CMBOR, (now sponsored solely by Barclays Private Equity, after co-sponsor Deloitte backed out last summer) says the 2008 total was £19.1 billion from 549 deals, a fall of over 58% on 2007's record figure of £45.9 billion from 671 deals. CMBOR also points out that deals in the business and support services sector increased substantially as a proportion of total 2008 value, while the retail sector saw its share plummet from 31.2% in 2007 to just 3.2% last year. - Jonathan Braude
