Down but not out as buyout recovery begins

SCOTLAND'S buyout market staged a gradual recovery in the three months to June, figures today reveal, but the overall deal value was less than half that of a year earlier.

The total value of deals completed in the second quarter was 234.6 million compared with just 143m in the first three months of 2010. That was despite the number of transactions falling from 13 to seven.

In the second quarter of 2009 there were 12 deals amounting to 598.6m.

Today's report, from the Centre for Management Buyout Research (CMBOR), sponsored by Barclays Private Equity, revealed that of the seven deals in the latest period, two were between 100m and 250m.

Steve O'Hare, director at Barclays Private Equity in the north, said: "While the results are positive in terms of overall value, they signal only part of a gradual recovery in the Scottish deals market."