Neil McInnes

Most recently, the team, led by partner Neil McInnes, advised on Ancala Partners’ investment into Noventa Energy Partners, a decarbonised heating and cooling provider.

In the software space, Grant Thornton also provided buyside support to Altier Capital-backed Halcyon on its acquisition of FingerPrint Global, a business that provides audit and lifecycle tracking services related to the sterilisation and decontamination of surgical instruments within clinical environments.

Grant Thornton also advised Glasgow-based Harper McDermott, as the provider of Protected Trust Deeds and Debt Payment Plans embarked on an exciting chapter after transferring to employee ownership.

Other notable deals in H1 include Brazilian-based Fras-Le’s acquisition of automotive parts business Juratek, the acquisition of Crear Hotels by Blantyre Capital Limited and Fairtree Hotel Investments and the sale of R&M Engineering Huntly to Aurora Energy Services. It also included Soho Square Capital’s investment into digital consultancy, xDesign and the acquisition of Speirs Gumley by Strathspey Capital, creating Scotland’s largest residential property factor.

This builds off the success of last year, when Grant Thornton’s Scottish team ranked 2nd as the most active dealmakers in Experian’s League Table, completing 22 deals across the country.

Mr McInnes said: “The short-lived Truss government in 2022 caused a huge amount of economic uncertainty, which continues to impact the market, even if the economy is on a more even keel. Persistently high inflation and the uptick in interest rates has undoubtedly hit confidence.

“At the same time, the US market was also knocked off its axis with economic turbulence, causing stock markets to decline, and it’s generally taken some time for everything to start to recover.

“It’s not all doom and gloom though, and deals are still being done, but at a slower pace than they were. Locally and nationally, we’ve still got a lot of deals scheduled for Q3 completions, but caution pervades.”

He added: “For deals to progress, I am confident that good quality businesses with a proven track record, strong management and a clear vision for growth will still achieve good outcomes.

“There will be a few variables and obstacles we will all have to overcome or that could work in our favour so it’s just a balancing act. For example, a change of government is likely to usher in a change in tax regimes for selling businesses, which could accelerate processes ahead of time.

“In the long term, Scotland is a nation of innovation, enterprise and entrepreneurialism – facets which will enable us to overcome the current headwinds.”

Over the last six months, the Scottish corporate finance team has also seen a number of promotions and appointments. This includes Akshay Sharma and Calum Windram being promoted to manager and Himanshu Batra joining the team as associate director.