Grant Thornton: management buy-outs will be back
Deal volumes set to rise
As firms seek to offload poorly performing divisions and other non-core
assets, Grant Thornton is predicting a renaissance of the management buyout.
Popularity of these deals has waned in recent years as trade sales were
favoured in market conditions that favoured sellers, rather than buyers.
Grant Thornton believes MBOs will gain favour again where companies are
looking for ways to dispose assets to reduce bank debt, and are not in a
position to dictate an attractive trade sale prive.
‘A sale to management can achieve the desired result as there is more room
for flexibility in the structure of an MBO and the deal can be achieved without
the glare of publicity that can often surround a trade sale,’ Grant Thronton
head of corporate finance Phil Jackson told the Birmingham Post.
