• For second year running, increased investment activity boosts number and value of deals
• Total value of deals more than doubles to £46m, from £20m in 2022
• Corporate team growing, with three new hires within last 12 months

Law firm Anderson Strathern is reporting its most successful year ever for investment deals for the second year running, amid continued optimism in the Scottish investment market.

Over the past year, the corporate investment team has been involved in more than 30 investment deals with an aggregate value in excess of £46m. This is more than double the £20m of investment handled by the team in 2022.

As a result of this increasing activity, over the past year the firm has recruited two newly qualified solicitors and one associate to join the corporate investment team, led by partner Euan Tripp. The team advises some of Scotland’s most active investors, from private equity funds to high-net-worth individuals, universities and investment arms of large corporate organisations.

The deals have been dominated by investments into medtech, bioscience and green energy companies. One highlight for the team was acting on behalf of a new client, Almero Ventures, in its £1.5m investment into Carbon Capture Scotland. This Perthshire-based company’s technology enables the decarbonisation of industries – such as agriculture and distilling – that generate CO2 during decomposition, fermentation or combustion processes.

The University of Strathclyde – a long-term client of Anderson Strathern – has also had a busy year for investment. The law firm has supported its team to complete multiple deals, including an investment into diagnostics company Microplate DX, which has developed a patented test that’s helping to tackle the problem of antimicrobial resistance by reducing the overuse of antibiotics.

Euan Tripp, partner at Anderson Strathern, is optimistic for the year ahead. He noted: “As well as a strong performance by our own team, we’ve noticed that the sums being invested in Scottish companies have generally increased over the past year. We have many clients looking for new opportunities to invest, especially in young companies with exciting ideas in similar areas that dominated the 2023 investment market.”

Max Scharbert, a senior director in Anderson Strathern’s corporate investment team added: “Despite challenging market conditions, our clients have raised considerable new funds in 2023, which we expect to boost the volume of high-quality deals in 2024. Scotland remains a very attractive option for investors.”