There was a flurry of merger and acquisition activity between June and September, with deals worth close to 拢2bn being made at home and abroad.

好色先生TV material supplier Wolseley was firmly on the acquisition trail, adding eight companies to its portfolio, including the biggest deal of the four-month period.

In July, Wolseley snapped up Danish rival DT Group for 拢1.4bn. The acquisition gave the plumbing materials group its first major presence in the Nordic region and was its biggest ever deal.

DT Group was not Wolseley鈥檚 only acquisition in the period. The following month it bought three European and three North American companies for a total of 拢36m. The targets included some assets of US firm Martin Architectural Products, Illinois-based Water Works Supplies, US plumbing and heating distributor Palermo, French distributor Depont Materiaux, Belgian pipe specialist Marmon Keystone Anbuma and Cheshire-based Lunts Heath. Wolseley also bought The Insulations Companies for 拢22m. The acquisitions take Wolseley鈥檚 deal tally for the year to close to 拢2bn.

Unsurprisingly, Chip Hornsby, Wolseley鈥檚 chief executive, said: 鈥淢aking bolt-on acquisitions is an important part of delivering double-digit growth and the pipeline for the year is strong.鈥�

Making bolt-on acquisitions is an important part of delivering double-digit growth

Chip Hornsby, Wolseley

Contractor ROK also made multiple acquisitions in the four-month period. The biggest was its recent 拢31m purchase of Tulloch Construction Group. The deal, funded through a share issue, gives Rok a huge footprint in the Scottish market. The contractor also bought West Midlands-based contractor Kingfisher for 拢4.5m.

Stewart McColl, the acquisitive chief executive of architect SMC Group, also had Scotland in his sights. At the end of September, SMC made a splash in the Scottish market with the acquisition of four businesses, Parr Architects, Jenkins & Marr, Davis Duncan and Hugh Martin Architects. SMC also added Midlands-based Hickton Madeley, spending a total of 拢11.7m on the five practices.

The US market proved fertile ground for UK companies wanting to expand through acquisition. International materials group CRH broke its transaction record when its US subsidiary Oldcastle Materials made an 拢685m offer for Ashland Paving and Construction.

However, UK firms were not immune to overseas acquirers. British brickmaker Baggeridge Brick was bought by its Austrian rival Wienerberger for 89m.

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