The value of deals was 22% higher than the previous year.

AAB (Anderson Anderson & Brown) was once again ranked top financial adviser for deals by volume, with a total of 28. It was followed by Grant Thornton, which jumped to second place from fifth and had 22 deals. Azets and Johnston Carmichael were matched in third and fourth place with 19 deals each. RSM followed with 15 deals in fifth place dropping from second the previous year.

The £4.6bn sale by Edinburgh-based banking group NatWest of the tracker mortgage business of Ulster Bank to AIB Group topped the tables for 2022 and is the largest deal Scotland has seen since 2012.

Small-cap deals rose by 13% in volume, from 77 in 2021 to 87 in 2022, whilst value increased by 13.6%. Large deals remained steady on 15, the same number as recorded last year, with values up by 25%. There was one more mega deal than last year, with the eight such deals valued at a total of £18.6bn, a 27% increase on 2021. Only the mid-market failed to delight, recording a 29% drop in volume and a corresponding 44% dip in value.

Whilst domestic transactions made up the bulk of Scotland’s deal activity, assets in the USA, Poland, Germany and Australia proved to be attractive to Scottish buyers. European acquirors accounted for 48.6% of inbound investment activity, with the USA and Canada representing a further 32% of deals.

Scotland’s deal activity represented 6.3% of the UK’s total by volume, and 10.9% by value.

Annual M&A volume in the UK as a whole declined slightly in 2022, with 7,080 transactions announced over the year – down from 7,210 in 2021.