MERGERS and acquisition activity rose by almost a third in Yorkshire during the first quarter of 2010, a report has revealed.

Business information group Experian reported 77 deals in the region between January and March – 28% up on the previous quarter.

The Yorkshire deal values registered £531.97m – more than double the sum for the previous quarter. Deals in Yorkshire accounted for 8.3% of all UK deals in terms of volume.

In comparison, the UK saw an 18.1% decrease in mergers and acquisitions during the quarter – 1,1312 deals against 926 before. Transactions were worth £68.9bn – up by 4.5% on the last quarter of 2009.

Wendy Smith, of Experian, said: “The fact that the Yorkshire region has bucked the national trend, with a significant increase in the volume of deals at the start of 2010, shows that funding for good quality risk free businesses is available.

“However, the overall figures for the UK tell us that the market is still very fragile.”

Yorkshire logged two deals worth more than £100m during the first quarter – together totalling £250m.