THE corporate team at regional law firm Tollers had an exceptionally busy end to 2018 with a mix of new clients and existing clients keeping the team on its toes.
Craig Harrison, head of the firm’s corporate team, and senior associate Ryan Chia have recently been instructed to advise a Hertfordshire business owner in connection with a £14m management buyout. It seems that MBOs are the flavour of the season, because during the last quarter of 2018 the team also completed a £4m MBO of an interior design company and a £2m MBO of a CCTV business.
Craig said: “MBOs remain a mainstay of our work. With proper planning they offer a simple, straightforward and less expensive route for business owners to sell and management teams to acquire a business.
“For family businesses, MBOs also offer an attractive way of passing a business to the next generation. The current trend that we are seeing is for more and more vendor financing supporting MBOs.”
Sector specialism is something that many clients now look for and one area in which Tollers have significant industry knowledge is in the self-storage sector. Last year Craig acted for the owners in connection with a £44m disposal of a portfolio of self-storage units to Schroders. This year he is actively involved in two more exciting projects in the self-storage sector.
Other transactions that have kept the corporate team busy in this quarter include:
* £8m sale of a professional services business
* Acting for the buyer of a care home from administrators for over £3m.
* Acquisition of an IFA business for £3.5m.
* Sale of healthcare business for a consideration of £2m.
* £1m share buyback following a shareholder dispute.
* A multi-million-pound sale of a holiday park followed by multiple instructions from a purchaser in the same sector.
Matt Crosse, another partner in the firm’s corporate team, involved with some of the above transactions, said: “As well as assisting companies with mergers and acquisitions, Tollers’ corporate team provides expert advice across a wide variety of legal disciplines including joint ventures, funding/private equity, business reorganisation/corporate structure, and much more. We have a huge amount of experience and work extremely closely with our clients to ensure we secure the best possible outcome for them.”
As well as supporting businesses with their corporate matters, Tollers’ specialist commercial services teams can also assist with a wide variety of legal services including commercial real estate, employment law, insolvency and corporate recovery, and much more.
If you need advice on any matter relating to your business, contact Tollers on 01908 396230 and Craig and the team will be happy to advise and assist.
