£1bn worth of deals for law firm

£1bn – that’s the value of deals secured by Harrison Clark Rickerbys’ corporate team in the past year, with key deals by the team across all its offices and in a range of sectors; proof of a vibrant market.

In Worcester and Birmingham, the healthcare sector was a major contribution to the £1bn total, including securing Rodericks Dental – the fourth biggest dental acquirer in England and Wales. Across the firm’s West Midlands offices, 400 companies are also now using the firm’s company secretarial expertise and service.

Cheltenham’s corporate team have led from the front in the firm’s growing employee-owned trust (EOT) offering, helping employees own a controlling stake in their business, as shown in November when employees from Talbots Law became shareholders in the Midlands-based law firm.

The Cambridge team led on a £100m transaction for the renowned Mr Fothergill’s Seeds, involving 3,000 retailers and offices in both Australia and New Zealand. They acted for the shareholders in the company’s management buyout in February.

In Northampton, deals are being done across a range of industries – the sale of Murkett Brothers to EMG, and window and door supplier Glazerite in an MBO being two notable examples.

The London team have seen a huge increase in the value of deals and private equity work in the last year too, with the value of deals in this area reaching £150m.

In Wales, the corporate team picked up the small business deal of the year award at the Wales Insider Awards for the sale of CashCalc to FE fundinfo. Meanwhile, the Wye Valley corporate team is dealing with a number  of high-value acquisitions for some of their ‘buy and build’ clients, where the deal flow for the next few months looks positive.

Richard Wilkey, head of the firm’s corporate team, said: “The fact that we’ve done £1bn worth of deals in the past year is fantastic news, and the team are right to be celebrating. This shows that there are deals to be done throughout the country – it’s a promising sign for the future of the market. With plenty going on now, we’re seeing a number of opportunities coming down the pipeline, with a lot of interest being shown in the technology, manufacturing and healthcare sectors.”

Harrison Clark Rickerbys has more than 800 staff and partners based at offices in Birmingham, Cambridge, Cardiff, Cheltenham, Hereford, London, Milton Keynes, Northampton, Thames Valley, Worcester and the Wye Valley, providing a complete spectrum of legal services to both business and private clients regionally and nationwide.

The firm has a number of highly successful teams specialising in individual sectors, including education, health and social care, technology, agricultural and rural affairs, finance and financial services, defence, security and the forces, and construction.