Deals worth in the region of £1bn were completed by EY’s North Strategy and Transactions teams during the first three months of 2021.
The teams acted on 15 completed deals in total, with North West highlights included Radius’ acquisition of Rainbow Communications in March.
Rainbow Communications, one of Northern Ireland’s most prominent telecoms companies, was bought by a Cheshire peer for an undisclosed sum.
The North West team also advised on the deal which saw Greater Manchester surveillance products company Wireless CCTV secure a £30m investment from mid-market private equity firm LDC.
WCCTV, which is headquartered in Rochdale, said at the time that the minority investment will accelerate its domestic and international expansion plans and support the launch of new products and services.
Other deals included private equity firm NorthEdge’s investment in cyber distributor Distology and Inflexion buying into global payments consultancy CMS Payments Intelligence.
Mark Clephan, corporate finance partner at EY in the North, said: "We’ve had a strong start to the year with some meaty deals for well-known regional businesses.
"Many of these deals have involved private equity, underlining the North PE community’s trust in our expertise and demonstrating the appetite to invest at the moment – something I expect will continue for the rest of the year."
Steven Kingham, partner and head of transaction services for EY in the North West, added: "I’m expecting the strong activity we have seen from the technology sector to continue throughout 2021 and, given the experience out team has in this sector, I’m preparing for another exceptionally busy year with plans to grow our North West team further."
