28 corporate finance
BDO takes advantage of a buoyant year for floats
The Southampton-based team at accountancy and business advisory firm BDO LLP, which has developed strong expertise as a leading reporting accountant on AIM for Initial Public Offerings (IPOs), has recently completed two transactions.
Corporate finance director Darren Phillips explained: “BDO in Southampton has helped two of our clients float on AIM this year: Weybridge-based Mi-Pay Plc and Haydale Graphene Industries plc based in Carmarthen.“
Business assurance partner Paul Anthony added: “With the flotation of Net Scientific plc last year, also a client of the Southampton office, this brings the office’s total to 10 listed clients – eight on AIM and two on the main market.“
law
Coffin Mew advises on accountancy merger
The corporate team at south coast law firm Coffin Mew LLP has advised Taylor Cocks Chartered Accountants on its merger with the accountancy business of Bicknell Sanders.
Bicknell Sanders partners, Nigel Bicknell and Bedford Lloyd, and their 13 staff have relocated to Taylorcocks’ Farnham office at Abbey House on South Street.
Bicknell Sanders was established in 1971 and offers a range of accountancy, tax and audit services. TGS Taylorcocks is an Accountancy Age ’Top 100’ firm of chartered accountants and chartered tax advisers. Established in 1992, it now has 10 directors and over 100 employees and provides services to approximately 2,500 clients across central southern England. Both firms are members of the ICAEW and The Chartered Institute of Taxation.
Ian Cocks, managing director of Taylorcocks, said: “I am delighted that Bicknell Sanders has decided to join forces with us, to create a dynamic upscaled local presence
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which meets the needs of SMEs in and around Farnham.“
Nigel Bicknell, founding partner of Bicknell Sanders, concurred: “Our merger with Taylorcocks gives our clients access to additional specialist expertise and resource. We will also benefit from Taylorcocks’ leading-edge technology platforms to deliver our services rapidly and reliably.“
Legal advice on the transaction was provided to Taylorcocks by Nick Gross and Jamie Earley of Coffin Mew LLP, who are based at the firm’s Lakeside office.
Gross said: “I have worked with Taylorcocks closely over the years and so we were delighted to have assisted them with this exciting acquisition. As with any professional services acquisition there were some complex issues, but our firm’s experience in this sector meant we were able to complete the transaction in an efficient way. I wish Taylorcocks every success with the acquisition and look forward to the next one.“
Eric Robinson Solicitors takes on trainee trio
Law firm Eric Robinson Solicitors has provided new training contracts to Rachel McNulty, Emily Manley and Aneep Tathgar in a move to nurture the legal talents of local young people within the firm.
After studying at Barton Peveril College in Eastleigh and completing both a law degree and LPC at Bournemouth University, Rachel McNulty started work at Eric Robinson Solicitors in 2011 as a temp for two weeks. She was asked to stay as a junior secretary to cover a six-month maternity leave and, once this concluded, offered an assistant position in the dispute resolution department where she worked until the start of this year.
Emily Manley first studied law for an A-level option at Itchen College, then continued her studies at the University of Southampton. After graduating, she applied for a job as a legal secretary in the residential property department and completed her LPC at the College of Law part-time by
attending courses every other weekend for two years.
Inspired by her cousin who is a medical negligence lawyer, Aneep Tathgar, like McNulty, began her legal studies at Barton Peveril and, like Manley, continued them at the University of Southampton. While studying her degree, she also worked in a law firm part-time during the academic terms and full-time over the summer vacations. She attended Nottingham Law School to pass her LPC and began work at Eric Robinson Solicitors in August 2012.
“We are delighted to be offering three such capable and talented young women the opportunity to build their careers with us,“ said managing partner Catherine Maxfield, who will be overseeing the firm’s trainee programme. “They will be experiencing six- month placements across all our departments and branches and, since they are already settled in the firm, they understand our culture, ethos and can hit the ground running.“
THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – SOLENT & SOUTH CENTRAL – JUNE 2014
The FTSE AIM 100 Index is an index of the top 100 companies weighted by capitalisation, comprising businesses ranging from young, venture capital-backed start- ups to well-established, mature organisations looking to expand. The list grew three times faster than the FTSE 100 in the second half of 2013 and has shown a substantial increase in the amount of funds raised in the final quarter of 2013 compared to the rest of the year.
BDO has a long track record of preparing businesses to float on AIM, as well as supporting them on acquisitions. In the past year, BDO supported Southampton- based Universe Group plc on an acquisition and Hungerford-based Vislink plc on its acquisition of Pebble Beach Systems.
From left: Daniel Bond, corporate finance senior manager; Darren Phillips, corporate finance director; Barry Curtis, audit manager; and Paul Anthony, business assurance partner, BDO
Phillips added: “Our work with AIM companies underlines our commitment to this particular sector nationally where we have consistently floated more businesses onto AIM than any other firm.“
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