Member Article

Newcastle’s Tait Walker mark fifteenth corporate finance anniversary

Newcastle-based Tait Walker, an accountancy practice established in 1937, is celebrating its Corporate Finance team’s fifteenth anniversary of providing support and strategic advice to some of the North East’s key businesses, in sectors spanning the maritime industry, the gaming market, pharmaceuticals, IT and manufacturing.

The Corporate Finance team has been awarded many accolades over the years in recognition of its expertise and customer relationships, including consistently being named Experians ‘most active financial advisors’ for the region and also being named ‘Team of the Year’ and ‘Dealmaker of the Year’ at the prestigious North East Dealmaker Awards.

Over the years, deal highlights have included securing the backing of two international investors for Newcastle solicitors’ firm Winn Group, in 2013, in a deal worth £80m to allow it to roll out its services nationally and creating significant employment opportunities for the region. This was the first large scale private equity investment into the legal sector in the North East and Tait Walker’s largest deal to date.

Tait Walker also assisted with the sale of Blyth-based Tynetec to French company Legrand, for which it offered specialist input helping negotiate and increase the value of the deal and managing the due diligence process through PwC Paris.

Other well-known local firms which Tait Walker have assisted over the years include, amongst others, Ashington-based Raytec CCTV, which is today trading worldwide; CAV Aerospace Limited, which also operates internationally with offices in the US, Mexico and Europe; and Ovington Boats – one of the world’s most successful small boat building businesses.

The department employs eight corporate finance specialists, with scope to grow this number throughout 2015 across its offices in Tyne and Wear, Northumberland and Tees Valley.

Andrew Moorby, Managing Partner at Tait Walker, added: “We have built an unrivalled reputation for our Corporate Finance offering over the years. This hasn’t happened overnight and it’s testament to Michael and the team’s hard work that we can celebrate where we are today.

“Our clients have been and remain at the very core of our business and it’s our aim to continue building on this ethos as we move into 2015 and beyond.”

Corporate Finance Partner Michael Smith, who joined the firm in 2000 to start the Corporate Finance division, said: “We’re both thrilled and honoured to have helped a considerable number of the region’s most innovative firms with deals over the last 15 years – many of which have gone on to really put the North East on the map.”