We are pleased to announce that we have advised Wellers, the long-established UK accountancy and business advisory firm, and its partners on the sale of the business to Accru Partners, the Scandinavian audit and accounting group backed by Axcel, a leading Nordic private equity investor.
The deal brought together three of our specialist practices sitting within our Tier 1 ranked Corporate team, combining the expertise of our market-leading M&A team, with our LLPs & Partnerships team and our Tax team. The integrated team structure was central to delivering a transaction of this kind, where the sale of a regulated partnership-based professional services business requires the seamless coordination of corporate, partnership, regulatory and tax expertise, from structuring the deal, managing the partnership and business transfer arrangements, advising on audit firm and individual regulatory approvals, through to addressing the tax implications for the firm and its individual partners.
The Lewis Silkin team was led by Partner and Head of Corporate, Paul Rajput, with support from, amongst others, Chris Hallinan (Partner and Co-Head of Professional Practices), Mark Ward (Legal Director, Corporate), Ben Hillhouse (Associate, LLPs & Partnerships) and Gabriella Jack (Associate, Corporate) on the corporate, M&A, partnership and regulatory aspects, along Matthew Rowbotham (Partner and Head of Tax), leading on tax aspects.
Commenting on the transaction, Paul Rajput said:
We are delighted to have advised Wellers and its partners on this milestone transaction. The sale of a partnership-led accountancy business calls for a genuinely joined-up approach, and the strength of this deal lay in the close collaboration between our M&A, LLPs & Partnerships and Tax specialists. It is a great example of how we bring our practices together to deliver seamless solutions to professional services clients.
Chris Hallinan added:
It was a pleasure to work alongside Wellers and its partners on this transaction. Deals of this nature have a number of complex aspects, The combined strength of our M&A, LLPs & Partnerships and Tax specialists, together with our regulatory knowledge and experience, allowed us to anticipate issues early, manage regulatory considerations, and keep the process moving smoothly to completion. We are seeing growing appetite from UK and international consolidators in the UK professional services market, and this deal is a strong example of the kind of cross-border professional services transactions we are well placed to support our clients with.
Commenting on behalf of Wellers, Partner Christina Nawrocki:
This is an exciting new chapter for Wellers, our people and our clients. The sale to Accru Partners secures the future of the business and gives us access to the backing and resources to invest in our people and technology, while staying true to the forward-thinking approach our clients value. From the first moment we spoke to Paul, we were confident that Lewis Silkin's integrated team could guide us through a complex process with real commercial insight, and their expertise in all areas was invaluable in getting the deal done. As a professional services business ourselves, we were highly impressed with how much care, attention and commitment Paul and his team showed when working with us to deliver this transaction.