HCR advised on the restructuring of Old Mill
HCR Law’s Thames Valley corporate team has recently advised the 40 partners behind Old Mill, one of the South West’s largest accountancy and financial planning groups in relation to a comprehensive restructure of its businesses.
The transaction, which was funded by the group’s existing bankers Natwest, involved the creation of a new holding company and operating subsidiaries and the transfer into these of the accountancy and audit practices in exchange for cash and shares. It is anticipated that the group’s financial planning business will be transferred following confirmation of FCA approval.
Robert Rice and Rachel Turner led the team which comprised senior associate Joel Molloy, trainee Bronia Richards and paralegal Suzie Palmer. Peter Orton, a legal director in the firm’s employment team, also worked alongside throughout. Tax advice was provided by Holly Bedford and Daniel Sladen of K3 Tax Advisory.
Commenting on the transaction, Robert Rice said:
“This transaction was very complex – involving as it did a top-down restructure of a very successful and long-established professional practice. It was also extremely document-heavy – requiring the creation of over 600 documents - but potentially the most challenging factor was borne out of the fact that professional practices are about the people within and we had to make sure that each of the 40 individual clients for whom we were acting were on board throughout."
Harrison Clark Rickerbys has more than 800 staff and partners based at offices in Thames Valley, Birmingham, Cambridge, Cardiff, Cheltenham, Hereford, London, Milton Keynes, Northampton, Worcester and the Wye Valley, providing a complete spectrum of legal services to both business and private clients regionally and nationwide.
The firm has a number of highly successful teams specialising in individual sectors, including health and social care, education, technology, agricultural and rural affairs, finance and financial services, defence, security and the forces, and construction.
