Leading Welsh independent accountancy practice, Watts Gregory, have signed up to a new initiative across Wales and England which offers specialist corporate finance expertise to smaller firms.
The firm of accountants and business advisors, which is headquartered in Cardiff, is the nominated practice for South & Mid Wales under the Goldsmiths Corporate Finance banner.
The network of eight firms offer a range of services including mergers and acquisitions, disposals, buy-outs, transactional tax advice, raising finance, development capital, raising finance, business valuations, transactional tax advice and due diligence.
The network is the brainchild of Ron Goldsmith, managing director of the Goldsmiths Group, who has helped many practitioners across the country with mergers and acquisitions of accountancy firms.
“When Goldsmiths Corporate Finance was seeking a member accountancy practice in the Wales region, Watts Gregory was an obvious choice for us. The practice has been well known to Goldsmiths for many years and we know them to be one of the best, from their excellent quality of work to their strong capability in the corporate finance sector. As well as being a well respected practice with a vast range of skills and services, all the team are really nice people. They also have fantastic new premises and extensive client parking facilities. I would have no hesitation in continuing to highly recommend Watts Gregory in the future”.
Watts Gregory’s expertise in disposals and acquisitions was highlighted recently when it handled the multi-million pound sale of family-owned Severn Fuels Ltd to GB Oils, part of the Irish-based DCC Group, which employs 3,500 people in its energy division across the UK, Ireland and Europe.
The heating and transport fuels business serves a customer base across South Wales and the West Country from a depot at Rogiet, near Caldicot. Severn Fuels has annual turnover of in excess of £50m.
Watts Gregory Partner Chris Hatcher, who handled the disposal of Severn Fuels, said: “This was a very significant sale of a long-established family business to one of the UK’s largest fuel distributors”.
“We provided the expert corporate finance advice to ensure a smooth disposal was concluded for our clients. The Goldsmiths Corporate Finance initiative ensures a guarantee of quality service because the member firms are committed to best practice.”
Lindsay Hogg, Managing Partner at Watts Gregory, which is based at the Cardiff Gate Business Park, said: “There is not enough corporate finance work for many smaller firms to invest in corporate finance expertise. We provide that expertise.
“We are already providing specialist tax advice to many other firms of accountants, so the addition of corporate finance is a natural extension of our services”.
“The Goldsmiths Corporate Finance initiative enables these smaller firms to work with us by offering the specialist expertise their clients need without threatening the trusted relationship they enjoy with their clients.”
