THE total value of the UK buy-out market in 2000, has already eclipsed last year's figure of £16.9bn.

The £17.4bn for the year so far represents a three per cent rise, and includes more than £100m worth of deals taking place in the North-East.

The average deal values this year have hit £41.1m.

The third quarter of the year has been dominated by huge deals, including the £3.5bn public to private buyout of property developer MEPC.

While the buy-out sector has led the market activity, buy-in activity has also increased sharply, rising to its highest value ever.

The £1bn plus buy-ins of Rank Hovis McDougall and General Healthcare were joined at the top of the year 2000 buy-in list by the KKR acquisition of Laporte.

Total deal value in the third quarter of the year has hit a record £8.6bn, although the number of deals being made fell slightly.

In the first three quarters of the year, deal volume reached 424, compared to 475 deal completions in the same period of the previous year.

Chris Ward, head of advisory services at Deloitte & Touche Corporate Finance, said: "The MEPC buy-out had an enormous impact this quarter and while top end deals have driven the market for the last three years, we saw a drop in the number of deals over £100m in this last quarter.

"The number of deals over £50m has fallen for the fourth quarter in a row, and taking together, indicators suggest that the market is overheating, prices are increasing and deals are becoming scarcer."