Midlands’ businesses attract overseas buyers
Mergers and acquisitions in the engineering and manufacturing sector across the Midlands are holding up, despite challenging market conditions.
Analysis by the Corporate Finance team at Azets, a UK top 10 accountancy and advisory firm, has shown resilience in the private company transaction environment, indicating a strong appetite for businesses in the region.
The figures show that around a third of buyers came from abroad, with most from Europe and the US.
Azets, which has offices across the Midlands in Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Tamworth, Coventry, Nottingham and Shrewsbury, analysed data for the nine months up to September 2026.
During that time 38 engineering and manufacturing transactions were completed in the region – almost one a week.
Alper Dervish, a partner at Azets, said: “This is the latest mergers and acquisitions activity report compiled by our Corporate Finance Advisory team.
“It shows resilience in the engineering and manufacturing sector across the Midlands, especially with SMEs. And that is despite strong headwinds nationally.
“Where terms were disclosed, the businesses at the top end were not necessarily the largest but were the ones with long-term customer contracts on long cycle programmes in high demand sectors.
“Swedish acquisitive groups were the most active from abroad – and with a third of buyers from overseas there remains strong cross-border activity. Strategic trade acquirers accounted for 80% of buyers and we anticipate high levels of activity to continue.
“A trade sale is not the only exit option for business owners. The last nine months produced management buyouts, employee ownership transitions and partial sales where the seller retained a minority stake and management continued to run the business.”
The engineering and manufacturing sector is of huge importance for the UK economy.
Together, the sectors’ gross added value is around £950bn, or about 40% of the country’s total economic output.
Gary Hyem, partner at Azets, added: “The Midlands continues to be a hotbed for engineering and manufacturing with its long-standing industrial heritage.
“Today, it still benefits from a skilled population, clustering of businesses, effective supply chains and a culture of research and development aided by academic support.
“Our Corporate Finance Advisory team in the Midlands is highly experienced within the engineering and manufacturing sector and assists in all types of corporate transactions, advising on buying, selling and funding such deals across all sizes of business.
“Industrials continues to be one of our leading five sectors nationally. We’re delighted that we have continued to complete a deal every two working days (with 2/3 being sell-side and 1/3 buy-side) despite the challenges in the market.”