LONDON, February 6, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

Merlin, one of London's leading independent financial and business communication consultancies, advised on transactions totalling $29bn by value in 2011.  

Deals covered a range of locations and sectors including Consumer Industries, Financial Services, Mining, Media and Aerospace.  These included advising C12 Capital Management on the transfer of $10.2bn assets to Barclays; advising A&NN Group, an investment subsidiary of the family trust associated with international investor, Alexander Mamut, on its acquisition of Waterstone's from HMV Group; and on the Hong Kong listing of Kazakhmys, the FTSE 100 mining company.  Merlin also supported a number of companies and financial backers on restructurings and refinancings during the period. 

In private equity, the team advised on a total of $12.5bn of transactions including the management buyout of the Barclays Private Equity management firm from Barclays Capital to form Equistone Partners Europe; and the leading credit provider to LBO companies, Park Square Capital, on the close of its new $1.2bn fund.  Deal flow also included a number of high profile transactions such as Bridgepoint's acquisition of Wiggle from ISIS Equity Partners for £180m, and its sale of environmental consultancy, ERM, to Charterhouse for £585m.

Merlin's Chief Executive, Paul Downes, commented:

"Despite the relatively subdued nature of the global M&A market, we were very encouraged to have been involved in a significant level of UK, European and Trans-Atlantic transaction work in 2011. We supported our clients across a wide range of industry sectors, including in our traditional areas of expertise such as Financial Services, Aerospace, Natural Resources and being called into several large scale restructurings. We were also delighted to win high profile work in Retail which broke new sector territory for us.

"We are cautious about the impact the continuing tough UK economic and market outlook will have on business in general in 2012. However, you can be sure we will be working hard to build on the momentum we have gained in these areas and in further strengthening our position as a premier strategic communication advisory firm."

Merlin's client base ranges from global corporations, fast-growth mid-cap companies and international fund management groups, to focused private equity firms.  

http://www.merlinpr.com

For further information please contact:

Rachel Thomas, Director, rthomas@merlinpr.com +44(0)20-7726-8400 / +44(0)7787-504447.

SOURCE Merlin PR

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