Law firm chalks up a £850m record year

Jan 30 2008 by Iain Laing, The Journal

LAW firm Ward Hadaway chalked up a record year in 2007, advising on almost £850m worth of corporate deals.

The Newcastle-based firm saw a 74% rise in the total value of deals it worked on, racking up £843m worth of transactions last year compared with £484m in 2006.

The figures mean that Ward Hadaway’s corporate team has more than doubled its deals value total in the space of two years, rising from £320m in 2005.

The teams also hit the century mark for the total number of deals done with 100 completed in 2007, a rise of 25% on 2006.

Highlights of the year included working on a £115m share placing and simultaneous £50m acquisition for Washington-based engineering company the Tanfield Group.

The firm carried out the legal work on the fast-growing plc’s largest stock market cash-raising and managed the group’s acquisition of US-based aerial platform maker Snorkel, a deal described as transformational by Tanfield chairman Roy Stanley.

During 2007, the firm advised on two acquisitions for software giant Sage – the £20m purchase of KCS Global Holdings Ltd and the £18m acquisition of Snowdrop Systems Ltd.

Ward Hadaway also advised North plcs Romag and China Goldmines on share placings worth £7m and £31m respectively and a £12m placing on AIM and £23m related acquisition of Biocode Hycel SA for Immunodiagnostic Systems.

The firm played a role in some of the most high-profile deals in the North-East during 2007, including the sale of the Henderson Pharmacy chain to Alliance Boots, the management buy-out of technology company 4Projects and the sale of the Peter Barratt’s garden centre empire to Wyevale.

The firm chalked up several notable client wins in the venture capital sector, including acting for London-based Bridges Community Ventures, a fund management company which specialises in investments in disadvantaged areas that have a positive social impact.

The firm hopes its progress will continue even more strongly this year following the appointment of Mike Spetch, an experienced corporate finance lawyer with an impressive deal-making record.

Mr Spetch joined this month as a partner in the corporate finance team after a decade at Eversheds in Newcastle.

Martin Hulls, head of corporate finance at Ward Hadaway, said: “We are delighted to have once again broken our deal-making record – and by such a margin.

“It is a reflection both of the continuing strength of the North-East economy and the hard work and expertise demonstrated by the Ward Hadaway team. Despite the current economic situation we are looking forward to another successful year in 2008, especially now with Mike Spetch on board.”

Ward Hadaway’s deal-making expertise was recognised in legal industry bible Chambers UK.

The 2008 edition of the directory noted how clients commented that “the firm has an excellent cross-section of lawyers, the resources to cope with tight timescales and is excellent value for money – we trust it to come up with the goods on any legal matter.”