Corporate Finance Deal Review 2025
Summary of 2025
2025 has been a strong year for our growing Corporate Finance team, supporting numerous transactions and helping business owners achieve their succession plans. We continued to build momentum across our transaction and advisory services, working with businesses across 8 different sectors.
Throughout 2025, we continued to cement ourselves as one of the leading advisors for large corporates and PE-backed entities perusing buy-and-build strategies. The team completed six acquisitions, delivering financial, tax and cyber due diligence services. Our Corporate Finance team expanded further in June when Katie Sutcliffe joined as an Analyst, and our work was recognised with 5 nominations at the Insider Media Dealmaker's Awards, reflecting both the quality of our advice and the outcomes achieved for our clients!
Overall, 2025 has been a good year for our Corporate Finance team at Hawsons and 2026 is already shaping up to be a good year with numerous completions lined up for the first quarter of 2026.
Deal Review
Our team successfully completed 18 transactions this year, with a total deal value of £211,892,574. This has been a strong year of sustained growth, recognition, and delivery.
Pete Wilmer
Senior Partner & Head of Corporate Finance
Jack Ware
Corporate Finance Director
2025 in a Snapshot
Number of deals advised on
Acquisitions
EOTs
Disposals
Fund Raising
MBO
Our Top 3 Sectors
In 2025, we successfully completed multiple high value transactions in the Healthcare & Medical (with a total deal value of £96,264,558), Manufacturing & Engineering (£59,467,783), and Property & Construction (£25,768,488) sectors.
We also closed deals for businesses operating in the Retail, Education, Leisure & Hospitality, IT & Software, and Environmental sectors.
- Healthcare & Medical 45%
- Manufacturing & Engineering 28%
- Property & Construction 12%
Total value of deals
Outlook for 2026
2026 is already shaping up to be an exciting year for the Corporate Finance team, with a strong pipeline of completions scheduled for the first quarter. We are seeing continued demand for our acquisition support and due diligence services, particularly from private equity and large corporates pursuing buy-and-build strategies.
Our expertise in financial, tax, and cyber due diligence remains a key driver of growth, and we expect this area to expand further as businesses look to strengthen their positions through strategic acquisitions.
While Employee Ownership Trusts remain a viable succession option, even with the recent reduction in capital gains tax relief from 100% to 50%, we anticipate a rise in alternative succession strategies, including Management Buyouts (MBOs), as business owners explore new routes.
Pete Wilmer
Senior Partner & Head of Corporate Finance
Jack Ware
Corporate Finance Director
Jack Parker
Corporate Finance Manager
jp@hawsons.co.uk
Ellie Wilcockson
Corporate Finance Executive
Jack Ware
Corporate Finance Director