£350m deals in year boosts income

Sep 12 2007 by Andrew Mernin, The Journal

A CORPORATE finance house which was acquired by a national plc earlier this year has helped its new owners to a 100% growth in profits.

The Newcastle-based institution, formerly known as Quantum, was acquired by McInnes Corporate Finance in February and has helped its parent company’s annual revenue soar by 100% to £4m this year.

Quantum, which has now taken the McInnes name, had been the last independent corporate finance house in Newcastle until it was bought by the Manchester-based finance company.

The firm has since contributed to more than £350m worth of deals that were conducted by McInnes in the North region across its Newcastle, Leeds and Manchester offices in the past 12 months.

The Newcastle branch has acted on private equity investment into a specialist pharmaceuticals firm and facilitated several acquisitions by building group Northern Bear.

Chris Appleby, Newcastle-based McInnes partner, said: “As Quantum we had a straightforward approach and a reputation for delivering deals with initiative and determination which made us an excellent fit with the McInnes team.

Fellow Newcastle partner Shawn Bone said: “The quality of our team, our depth of expertise in private equity and mergers and acquisitions and the range of skills we can offer in Newcastle is unique and gives us a great platform from which to grow.

“Together with our national corporate finance presence we can offer clients a level of service and experience that is very different to our competitors.”

The McInnes group embarked on an expansion program after it was acquired by AIM-listed professional services firm Begbies Traynor in 2005.

When it acquired Quantum earlier this year it announced plans to double the number of deals handled by the branch on Newcastle’s Collingwood Street to £80m by 2010.