Linder Myers in pre-pack deal

MANCHESTER law firm Linder Myers has been sold in a pre-pack administration deal to a newly created legal services firm called Metamorph Law.

The deal, which was completed on Friday for an undisclosed sum, will see the new ABS entity take on all Linder Myers staff, assets and business.

The Linder Myers name will be retained as a trading name within Metamorph Law, which will have its headquarters at Linder Myers’ offices in Spring Gardens.

Metamorph Law founder and chief executive Simon Goldhill set up the firm to acquire existing high street and SME focussed legal practices. The Linder Myers acquisition is its first and Goldhill has plans to acquire up to 60 firms nationally over the next five years.

He told TheBusinesDesk.com: “We have been talking for some months now. It isSimon Goldhill a fantastic first acquisition for us and is in all the practice areas we are looking to develop. It is of significant size with around 200 people and it has all the support functions we will need to build the business.”

A former commercial litigator in London, Goldhill set up a personal injury litigation mediation firm InterResolve and has since worked with consumer organisation Which on  the opportunities within the high street legal market.

“When they decided not to do that area of work, I decided it was too good an opportunity to miss and created Metamorph Law,” he said.

Funding has been provided by high net worth private individuals, and some of the people involved in legal business consultancy Assure Law have taken minority stakes, Goldhill said.

The pre-pack deal followed the appointment of Quantuma partners Andrew Hosking and Carl Jackson and director Sean Bucknall as joint administrators.

Trevor Ward, partner at Linder Myers, said: “It is a very exciting time, there is lots of activity in the legal market at the moment. All the partners are very excited about proceeding and it will be a fresh new start on Tuesday with all systems go.”

It is the second time in two years that Linder Myers has experienced severe cashflow problems. A year ago Assure rescued Linder Myers and installed its chairman Tony Stockdale as Linder Myers’ chief executive.

Stockdale went in to lead a solvent rescue of the firm in March 2014, implementing a major overhaul after it acquired a number of firms before it ran into financial difficulties.

At the time Stockdale told us: “The real measure of our progress will be the accounts for June 2015 and I am very comfortable with what they will show.”

Those accounts were due in March but have not been filed at Companies House.

In 2013 the firm changed its year end to June and the last set of filed accounts show turnover hit £9.1m in the seven months to June 30 2014, as it undertook a refinancing package to cope with “severe cash flow difficulties”.

Profits for the same period were £1.2m. This compares to £11.5m of turnover and £5.1m loss for a full 12 months to November 2013.

Stockdale also spoke to TheBusinessDesk in August, as the firm completed its first full year of trading since reorganisation.

“Both profits and cash generation have exceeded expectations and Linder Myers is now very well positioned to deliver its strategy of becoming a powerful regional practice,” he said at the time.

Linder Myers comprises three practice areas: bodily injury which accounts for 36% of income; private client generates 36%, while corporate and commercial brings in the remaining 28% of fees.

The firm has offices in Spring Gardens in Manchester, Chester, Lytham, Preston and Shrewsbury.

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