Businesses with operations all over the North West have confirmed a string of mergers and acquisitions over the last week or so.
Household names such as Boohoo, JD Sports and The Co-operative bank have all been involved as well as the likes of RSK, The Portman Travel Group and The ACC Liverpool Group.
Below, BusinessLive has rounded up the biggest deals from across the region we feel you should not miss.
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The Portman Travel Group
Capita has agreed to sell two travel and events businesses to a group owned by a Saudi Arabia giant for £36.5m.
Derby-based Agiito and Evolvi, which is located in Reading, will be acquired by Clarity Travel in Manchester.
Clarity is the business travel and events division of the Chester-headquartered The Portman Travel Group.
JD Sports
JD Sports has agreed to acquire the remaining 40% of a Polish counterpart it does not already own.
The Greater Manchester-headquartered group first acquired 60% of Marketing Investment Group (MIG) in March 2021.
Since then, the JD sports brand has expanded across five countries in central and eastern Europe through 18 stores.
Boohoo
A son of the co-founder of Boohoo has invested in the fashion giant.
Umar Kamani has snapped up a 3% stake in the Manchester-headquartered group, according to with the London Stock Exchange.
Mr Kamani co-founded PrettyLittleThing with his brother Adam in 2012.
RSK
Fast-growing environmental services group RSK is looking into selling a £500m stake as part of plans to acquire more than 30 companies a year.
The Cheshire-headquartered giant is aiming to create a £1bn war chest through issuing new shares while the remaining funds could come from its debt finance provider, Ares.
RSK is eyeing buying up the businesses between now and 2030 as well as growing its revenue to £5bn and profits to £500m.
The Co-operative Bank
The Co-operative Bank has been approached with a merger offer which would value the combined group at £3.5bn.
Shawbrook Group, a private equity-backed lender to small businesses, has tabled a stock-based proposal.
The deal would give The Co-operative Bank's shareholders around 29% of the enlarged group.
The ACC Liverpool Group
The ACC Liverpool Group has been awarded funding in its latest step towards achieving Net Zero status by 2030.
The organisation, operator of the M&S Bank Arena, Exhibition Centre Liverpool and convention centre, is set to receive £1.4m from the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme which is delivered by Salix Finance.
The money from the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero has been awarded to Liverpool City Council as owner of the campus.
Instinct Resourcing
A specialist recruitment company has become an employee-owned business as it heads for a turnover of around £11m.
Instinct Resourcing was founded in 2011 by Mike Ward and Matt Owens and has 18 staff.
Accounting and business advisory firm Hurst advised the shareholders of the Manchester-based business on the transition to employee ownership.
Altrincham Football Club
Altrincham Football Club have announced a new equity investment of £1.5m..
The investment has come from a group of over 20 investors who are "predominantly leading º£½ÇÊÓƵ business people with a direct connection to the local community".
The new investors will own a "significant minority" between them and come from a range of industries including finance, media, property, technology and e-commerce.
The only new investor that has been named is Shalni Arora.
Praetura Commercial Finance
A group of businesses operating across healthcare recruitment, consultancy and technology has undergone a seven-figure management buyout (MBO) backed by Manchester-based Praetura Commercial Finance.
Clive Henry Group consists of Mprove, Woodrow Mercer Healthcare and Tech Canal.
The management buyout has been led by Liam Molesworth and Sam Alsop-Hall.
Peter Williams and Fraser Pirie from UHY Hacker Young provided corporate finance advice to the selling shareholders.
James Down and Olivia Jones at Hill Dickinson provided legal advice. Funding for the transaction was provided by Praetura Commercial Finance, led by Stuart Bates and Adam Hooson, with guidance from Grant Thornton and Addleshaw Goddard.
Smart IT
Kirkham-based Smart IT has acquired the trading business of Odoo Community partner, Opus VL.
The group intends to retain all staff and said it is expected to enhance the its earnings in the financial year to 2024.
Barry Bullen, Smart IT CEO, said: "Our software development strategy is built on a º£½ÇÊÓƵ-based, employee only model to ensure quality and project continuity, so this acquisition dovetails perfectly with an addition of around 10 developers to our team."
Beech Tree Private Equity
Wilmslow-based Beech Tree Private Equity has invested in CovertSwarm, a red team-as-a-service and cyber-attack simulation platform.
CovertSwarm was founded by Anders Reeves in 2020.
Adam Rudd, partner at Beech Tree, said: "It was clear from the first time that we met with Anders, and his business partner Luke Potter, that they were building something really special with CovertSwarm."
Meadow
Chester-based ingredients business Meadow has announced the acquisition of Naked Foods.
Naked Foods produces a range of fruit and confectionery sauces for º£½ÇÊÓƵ and Irish food companies.
The company, established in 2003, has grown to now providing over 300 recipes and several thousand tonnes of sauces each year.
PAM Group
Occupational health specialist PAM Group has acquired part of Connect Health in a move it says will boost annual revenue by £2m.
The undisclosed deal means 60 of Connect Health's staff in its occupational health physiotherapy business will transfer to PAM Physio Solutions (PPS) - part of the Warrington-based group. It will give PPS a 120-strong team and annual revenues of £5m.
The acquisition is the second this year for PAM, which established its physio business in 2010 and offers physiotherapy treatment, assessments and the management of musculoskeletal (MSK) disorders. For Connect, the deal follows a year in which it made strides in winning new NHS community services contracts.
