Clydesdale hails lift in business buy-outs

Published on Wednesday 26 January 2011 11:18

CLYDESDALE Bank has promoted Alison McGregor to head up the firm's corporate banking activities in Scotland as it positions itself to fund a wave of corporate buy-outs across the UK.

McGregor has become regional director for the bank's corporate & structured finance (CSF) division in Scotland, replacing Graham Cunning, who has taken on a national role as director for acquisition finance across the UK.

McGregor said the division, which targets companies with a turnover of 50 million or more, had a "strong pipeline" of deals.

The bank expects to back a rash of firms moving to acquire struggling businesses, while incumbent banks - particularly Bank of Scotland and Royal Bank of Scotland - have pulled away from the market.

She said: "The impact of the recession on banks' balance sheets has meant that some have lacked the appetite to support business growth and fund transactions.

"We're already seeing a strong pipeline of deals coming through in the first quarter of 2011 and we believe there has never been a better time to push forward our acquisition finance business.

"We haven't yet returned to the volume of activity we have seen in previous years, but there are good opportunities out there for businesses to take advantage and buy other businesses.

"We are here to fund those kinds of transactions. We will invest in businesses that want to grow."

Recent transactions for Clydesdale Bank in Scotland include 2.5m loan funding for artificial limb-maker Touch Bionics.

McGregor was poached by Clydesdale just over a year ago from her role as head of corporate and commercial banking and deputy managing director for Barclays in Scotland.

Her approach to growing the business will rely on the sort of "relationship" banking she developed during the 28 years she spent working her way up the ranks at Barclays.

She said: "If I look back to where I worked and the way I build relationships, they were built over time.

"We want to get on the bench and eventually get in the park and play the game. That has always been my strategy. It is not about being aggressive and saying we want to take over the world."

Perhaps taking a more feminine approach to corporate banking, she denies that Clydesdale aims to steal market share from RBS and Lloyds, on the basis that setting a target to steal market share "doesn't drive the right behaviours".

"Market share isn't really important to us. Nor is it a target I have got," she said.

Cunning will lead the bank's acquisition finance teams in London and the South, Yorkshire, the North West, the Midlands and Scotland.

He said the newly created national role showed the bank's "continued commitment to the private equity market."