Bermans recruiting in Manchester as fee income rises

NORTH WEST law firm Bermans has reported a fee income for the first half of the financial year totalling almost £2.5m, an increase of more than £250,000 on last year.

Its property team has reported a significant increase in work for the licensed leisure sector, including the lease for Lunya’s new restaurant in Manchester, the refinancing for a portfolio of 10 pubs in the Wigan and Chorley areas for Inn Investments and a string of transactions nationally.

Bermans, which has offices in Liverpool and Manchester, said its corporate department has also seen a surge of instructions during the last three months.

A total of 11 transactions have been completed made up of three disposals, two acquisitions, four reorgansisations and two venture capital deals, including the completion of SEIS and EIS funding rounds into Formisimo, which provides website optimisation and analytics tools to a global client base.

Senior partner Fergal O’Cleirigh said: “Our property team has particular expertise within the leisure industry. It is a sector that has had a difficult few years and it’s great that there is still an appetite to invest in it and for good operators to expand their offering.

“Q2 has continued to see increasing levels of corporate activity from a wide range of sectors as confidence returns. With debt funders returning to the market, a pattern has emerged as owner managers, corporates and private equity funds see opportunities to take advantage of. 

“As we progress into Q3 we see that trend continuing. As a result of increased transactional activity, we are looking to expand the corporate team, particularly in Manchester, where we recently appointed Robin Hastings who joins from Turner Parkinson.

 “We are also looking to bolster our property and litigation offering in Manchester through senior appointments.”