Over the same period, the value of M&A deals for UK companies has almost doubled from £146bn in 2019/20 to £289bn in 2020/21, says private wealth law firm Forsters.

Forsters says that the M&A market in the UK has been very busy over the last 12 months, with deals made for household names including supermarket group Morrisons, insurer RSA and outsourcer G4S.

However, the number of deals for family-owned businesses has grown at an even faster rate of 59% over the last 12 months. Transactions involving family-owned businesses made up 57% of M&A transactions completed in the UK in the past year (1,093 deals), compared to 55% in the previous year (687 deals).