Midlands Corporate team 2024/25 deals round up

The Midlands Corporate team, led by Partner Alison Scott and supported by Partner Jenna Ostrowski who joined the firm last Autumn, has continued to expand in recent months, growing to a team of 11 with plans afoot to expand further. With an expanding team and breadth of experience, we have been actively involved in completing a large number of transactions in recent months, including corporate reorganisation projects, acquisitions and disposals.

The 2024 Autumn Budget saw several pressing completions take place in the run up, where sellers of privately owned companies sought to sell their shares quickly in anticipation of tax changes that might see them being disadvantaged. Clients weren’t wrong to have anticipated changes, where from 30 October 2024, the higher rate of capital gains tax (CGT) increased for individuals from:

• The lower rate of CGT from 10% to 18%
• The higher rate of CGT from 20% to 24%, where this is the rate that trusts and individuals will usually pay and there were therefore two CGT rates in 2024/25: (i) 20% for disposals between 6 April 2024 and 29 October 2024; and (ii) 24% for disposals from 30 October 2024 to 5 April 2025.

In the run up to the CGT changes, during the month of October last year, we completed 15 (confidential) transactions, including a number that were driven by the anticipated tax changes.

It wasn’t just deals at the back end of 2024 that were keeping us busy. There were further tax implications for individuals off the back of the Autumn budget, where the rate for CGT where Business Asset Disposal Relief (BADR) – which generally applies to the sale of certain businesses/business assets by entrepreneurs – and Investors’ Relief (IR) apply increased from 10% in 2024/25 to 14% from 6 April 2025 (and will increase again to 18% in 26/27). In light of the continuing changing tax landscape, and also to mark the start of the new year, traction gained with more businesses wanting to transact for tax reasons or otherwise and following the start of 2025, we have worked on and completed no less than 25 transactions, including:

• Advising the shareholders of Nortech Management Holding Limited, a specialist electronics company and market leader in supplying monitoring and control technology to network and system operators on their sale to Vestum UK Limited. Julian Brown, Managing Director at Nortech added “We are delighted that Nortech is now part of the Vestum group, this acquisition is a real vote of confidence in our technology and our team. I’d thank the team at HCR Law, led by Alison Scott, their attentive professionalism made the legal process less stressful than it might otherwise have been. We’ve worked with HCR Law for almost 10 years now and will continue to do so.”
• Advising the shareholders of Cotswolds commercial bakery, Four Anjels, on the sale of a majority stake to Olidor Group. Andrea Stevens, Co-Founder and Managing Director of Four Anjels said “We would like to thank Alison, Ashley and the team at HCR Law for their unwavering support in concluding this transaction. Alison and Ashley’s sound advice, expertise, support and commercial approach secured the best outcome for us and has been invaluable throughout the process.”
• Advising the sellers of AMP Power Protection Limited on their sale to Swedish listed company, Addtech Group. AMP develops, supplies and supports rugged Uninterruptible Power Supplies (UPS) and power protection systems for harsh environments to the defence, marine and transport industries. Martin Peacock, seller and Group Managing Director for AMP said “The team at HCR, led by Derek Callanan and Jenna Ostrowski, were very supportive and absolutely integral to closing the deal, on time and to schedule, they were responsive to all requests at all hours and as a seller group new to M&A transactions, they helpfully guided us through the complexities of the legal process and ensured that everything ran smoothly. The team walked us through all the important points at each stage of the transaction, identifying challenges and potential issues, breaking down the legal detail into digestible pieces and cutting through the legal jargon. It’s been great working with them.”
• Advising Amcomri Group Plc on its acquisition of EMC Elite Engineering Services Ltd, a niche mechanical and electrical engineering service provider to the power generation, process and aggregate industries. Mark O’Neill, Investment Director at Amcomri Group Plc said “A huge thank you to Derek Callanan and Jenna Ostrowski, as well as the wider Corporate cross-sector team at HCR, for their support in getting this deal competed. We have a strong relationship with HCR, who consistently bring an efficient, commercial and pragmatic approach to acquisition support. The team was always responsive to timelines and navigated the legal complexities of this transaction seamlessly, helping to ensure a smooth process.”

Going forward, as we continue to move into the new financial year, we have some fantastic projects in the pipeline across a broad range of sectors putting us in good stead for a fantastic FY25 ahead.

Our Corporate team cover all corporate legal queries, ranging from M&A transactions to support with incorporating new companies and company constitutional documents and queries, Shareholders’ Agreements and Articles of Association and Corporate Reorganisation projects.