Frances Clark and Foot Anstey lead SW corporate finance market
Independent research by Experian has identified the award-winning corporate finance team at chartered accountants Francis Clark as the dominant financial adviser in the South West having almost doubled its deal volume over that achieved in 2013.
The Francis Clark team achieved 40 deals in 2014, more than the total volume of the next four South West corporate finance teams combined, which sees the firm jump 14 places in the national league table to 20th, the only non-Top 10 accounting practice to be included.
The Corporate team at Foot Anstey tops the South West Legal Advisers table with 35 transactions completed, advising on a range of transactions for a wide variety of businesses. The firm also features in the UK wide Legal Adviser League Table Top 20.
The league tables recently published by Experian show overall deal volumes in the South West increased at a faster rate (up to 436 deals from 409 in 2013) in the SW than in the UK overall. Whilst this only includes those deals which are made public by the company or advisors involved it is a reflection of the companies and advisers in the region.
Mark Greaves heads the Francis Clark team that was recently named as the ‘Corporate Finance Team of the Year’ at the 2014 British Accountancy Awards. He said: “We are delighted to top the South West table for the second successive year and to achieve a Top 20 national place
“We have supported deals across a range of sectors including advising on the management-buy-outs of Sutton Seeds and James Tobias, numerous fund raising exercises in the energy sector and acquisitions as far afield as Singapore.
“Our success is from both our wide spread coverage across the region from Truro to Salisbury as well as the varied experience of the team, which includes members from banking, equity and industry background.”
The Foot Anstey team is led by Chris Worrell who commented: “We are delighted to have our efforts recognised in this independent review. This has been a year of significant growth and development for the team, we have focused on working closely with our clients and the wider corporate finance community in order to continually develop and deliver an effective and efficient service across the region.”
Francis Clark partner Andrew Killick added: “Our corporate finance team is one of the largest in the region and is ready for a pre-election surge in deals activity. The sector doesn’t like uncertainty and the prospect of a rainbow coalition with unpredictable economic and tax policies is encouraging shareholders and management teams to try and complete sales, Management Buys Outs and other relevant deals before May 2015.”
Experian will be publishing more details on the deal activity in the West Country region later in the month, which will analyse the trends shown in more depth as well as including expectations for the year ahead from businesses in the region.
