Despite this decline, deal activity exceeded £21bn over the last 12 months
Deals between large organisations and UK SMEs dropped 28 per cent in 2016/17, after a three-year upward trend, according to data released today by national law firm Bond Dickinson. Deal volumes rose from 1,326 during 2013/14, to a peak of 1,536 in 2015/16, before falling to 1,111 in 2016/17.
Despite the recent fall, large organisations still invested £21bn in 1,111 deals with UK SMEs in the last tax year. This was 31 per cent more than the £16bn large organisations invested in UK R&D in 2016, showing a healthy appetite for partnering with SMEs.
Close Encounters: The power of collaborative innovation explores deals between large businesses and UK SMEs, including mergers and acquisitions (M&A), minority stake purchases and joint ventures (JVs) from April 2013 to April 2017.
Over this four-year period, large organisations headquartered both at home and abroad invested £102bn in 5,447 deals with UK SMEs. This far exceeds the £62bn corporates invested in UK research and development between 2013 and 2016, and equates to more than a seventh of the £683bn total UK business investment.
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