THE £37 million buyout of a Haslingden employer was one of the highlights of a record-breaking year for corporate deals.

The deal involving Scapa Filtration was one of 17 done in 1999 with a value totalling £2,176million. The figure compares with £768million in 1998.

The biggest deal of the year was the £1.3billion buyout of Manchester-based Zeneca Speciality Chemicals - believed to be Europe's biggest ever.

The North West trend was mirrored nationally with the value of larger deals of £100million or more increasing significantly.

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