Securing Finance: Financing and refinancing in today’s economic climate - November 2008

In September 2008 Grant Thornton UK LLP commissioned mergermarket to survey 150 UK listed and private mid-market corporates on their experiences, perceptions and predictions around financing and refinancing their businesses in the current climate.

As always with market research, timing is everything.

September and October’s epoch-defining events in the global banking sector wiped trillions of dollars off global exchanges and recession looks almost assured in the UK market. But what was the impact on the outlook of UK mid-market companies that were interviewed? Concerned that such events would have shifted consensus we returned to respondents to stress-test their initial answers. Were their views impacted?

Respondents largely stood by their answers given either before or during the unfolding events of September/October. This is not to say that UK mid-market corporates believe that they are decoupled from wider market issues, but they nevertheless believe that there remain significant opportunities to grow through M&A in the current market and in coming months. This positive mindset is something to be both cherished and cross-examined.

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