A goldmine for Ward Hadaway as deals mount

Oct 17 2007 by Iain Laing, The Journal

WARD Hadaway has been involved in everything from gold mines to garden centres in advising on nearly £100m worth of deals in the last month.

The Newcastle firm said its highlights included advising North-East entrepreneur Karl Watkin’s China Goldmines on its recent £30m share placing on the Aim market.

The law firm’s corporate finance team also led three deals which saw high-profile North-East companies change hands.

The team advised Billingham-based Imperial Tankers on its £7m sale to Hargreaves Services, Peter Barratt’s Garden Centres on its sale to Wyevale Garden Centres and Henderson Pharmacy on its sale to Alliance Boots.

Martin Hulls, head of corporate finance at Ward Hadaway, said: “This has been an extremely busy but rewarding time Our experience across a range of sectors and our ability to bring in dedicated expertise from other departments within the firm to work on transactions has enabled us to help make these deals happen.”

China Goldmines is looking to use the £30m from its AIM share placing to develop eight mines it acquired in August in China.

David Crone, head of plc at Ward Hadaway, led the firm’s team on the placing with associate Richard Butts.

Duncan Reid, corporate finance partner, led the team which advised shareholders of Imperial Tankers on the company’s sale to County Durham haulage-to-coal importer Hargreaves Services. The deal, for an initial £5m with up to £2m more depending on performance, made Hargreaves Services one of the top five players in the chemical road tanker sector.

Katherine Hay-Heddle led the Ward Hadaway team on the sale of Henderson Pharmacy’s chain of outlets to Alliance Boots, advising founder Phil Henderson on the deal. The firm has acted for Phil Henderson and Henderson Pharmacy Limited for many years, helping it to grow to its current 14 branches.

Robert Thompson led a ten-strong Ward Hadaway team advising Peter Barratt’s Garden Centre founders Peter and Angela Barratt on the sale of the North-East chain to Wyevale Garden Centres, owned by Scottish entrepreneur Sir Tom Hunter.