Appointments: Clarion; Business Growth Fund; Lupton Fawcett Denison Till, Hentons

CLARION has made another addition to its commercial property team with the appointment of Ben Lamb, formerly of Gordons, as partner.

With 12 years’ experience as a commercial property lawyer, Mr Lamb trained with magic circle firm Allen & Overy before joining city firm Field Fisher Waterhouse where he spent over six years as a senior solicitor.  In 2010 he joined Gordons in Leeds where he became a partner.

He is experienced in all aspects of commercial property law, advising on a variety of property transactions including acquisitions and disposals, development and landlord and tenant matters.  He has acted for Wm Morrison Supermarkets, Saudi Arabian Airlines, Shell Pension Fund, Santander, Lloyds, the University of Oxford and the Ogden Group.

Martin Grange, partner and head of property at Clarion, said: “As the commercial property sector continues to gain momentum, we are seeing high levels of activity among our clients.  The addition of a third partner following the appointment of Lindsay Texel to the practice last year, will give us further strength in depth.  Ben has an impressive track record working with a wide range of blue chip clients and his expertise will be a real asset.”

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Ben Barker Business Growth FundTHE Business Growth Fund (BGF) continues to grow its investment team covering the North of England with the appointment of Ben Barker, who will be based across the Leeds and Manchester offices.

Mr Barker has more than 13 years’ experience of equity funding gained most recently as a director at Caird Capital where he worked on a number of transactions including the sale of Tuffnells to Connect Group and the investment in and subsequent IPO of McColl’s Retail Group.

He began his career at HSBC and held senior roles at Bank of Scotland Integrated Finance, where he worked for eight years.

Mr Barker joins a team of 10 investors covering the North of England. So far this year, the team has made growth capital investments in Grace Cole, RMS International, Total Recycling Services and AIM-listed Castleton Technology, and provided follow-on funding to investee companies Xercise4Less and Boost.
Since 2011, BGF has invested in 24 growing businesses headquartered in North.

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Lupton Fawcett Denison Till has doubled its agriculture and landed estates departmentTHE York office of Lupton Fawcett Denison Till has doubled its agriculture and landed estates department.

There are now eight people within the department with Jessica Richardson, Hannah Farmer, Niamh Batterton and Fiona Gibson joining the team.

As well as providing legal advice and help across all areas of farming and landed estates, including sale and purchase, tenancies, easements and rights of way, the team also has expertise in solar and wind projects as well as dealing with developers. Clients include Castle Howard and Bramham Estate.

Director of Lupton Fawcett Denison Till, Johanne Spittle, said: “We recognise the need to run farms and estates as businesses, without losing sight of the fact that many are also homes; commercial objectives have to be balanced against protecting a way of life and local reputation.

“However as the pressure to diversify continues we can help to exploit the estate’s commercial potential through merchandising, licensing and developing an e-commerce offering, as well as advising on other income generating projects such as setting up caravan parks, wind and solar farms.

“Our expanded team is able to advise on all these issues, with Hannah’s experience of equine law providing another much sought after addition to our offering.”

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ACCOUNTANCY firm, Hentons has appointed partner Pav Bagri, focusing on SMEs.

Mr Bagri joined the business from senior positions at Grants Chartered accountants and Haines Watts.

Nadeem Ahmed, managing partner of Hentons said: “Pav brings a wealth of experience, and has made a real impact on Hentons since he joined the business. We continue to put the building blocks in place to ensure Hentons retains a focus on client service as it expands its capabilities.”

The firm, which employs 60 across its operations, has recently announced the expansion of its Sheffield office and wealth management teams.

 

 

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