EMC’s Regional Corporate Finance Update | April

April 2026

Welcome to our corporate finance review for April 2026. The turn of the tax year saw an influx of deal announcements before April 5th as shareholders looked to benefit from Business Asset Disposal Relief at 14%. The BADR rates sellers are now faced with sits at 18% for proceeds up to £1m and 24% for gains over this amount. April has recorded the largest volumes of the year so far with a third of these reported in the first five days of the month.

The ongoing conflict in the Middle East continues to impact inflation and fuel price concerns with the IMF reporting that the energy shocks will likely result in the UK experiencing the hardest hit to their economic growth of all G20 countries (predicted to fall from 1.3% pre-conflict to 0.8%). While uncertainty remains around the Middle East region we are continuing to see significant concern across supply chains and deal processes in many industries locally.

A standout deal for the month saw Shackleton agree to acquire Hurst Point to create a £17.5bn AUM advice firm and marks the largest acquisition that Shackleton have completed to date. The firm kicked off its M&A growth story when it received its first institutional capital investment that EMC advised on in 2021.

Elsewhere in the South East, accounting platform – Affinia, has been acquired by US based RedBird Capital Partners which marks the exit from their private equity investors Sovereign Capital Partners. The Affinia group is well consolidated across the South East region having completed 13 announced platform deals in the region including accounting firms UHY and Richard Place Dobson.

Many deals continue to have an element of private equity with CBPE backed firm Clifton Asset Management also acquiring Essex based Cutting & Carter during the month which was Clifton’s 21st acquisition in this sector since 2019. The buzz of private equity is ever present as the South East recorded 31 announced deals this month that included private equity backing in some form as investors are continuing to look to deploy their capital and drive growth through their platforms.