Gateley seals deal for Capitus

Gateley, the listed law firm which has offices in Leicester and Derby, has bought Capitus, a specialist tax incentives advisory business.

Capitus, to be renamed Gateley Capitus, is the first acquisition that Gateley has made since its admission to AIM in June 2015.

Gateley will pay a cash and shares deal worth £2.72m.

Established in 1997, Capitus is a UK specialist tax incentives advisory business, advising institutional and professional investors on their commercial property transactions.

In the year ended 30 June 2015, Capitus, which has offices in London, Birmingham, Ballymena and Dublin, had revenues of £1.38m and generated an operating profit of £593,000.

Michael Ward, CEO of Gateley, said: “I am delighted to welcome Capitus to Gateley; its addition to the Group is in line with the strategy we outlined at flotation last June, to make selective acquisitions which offer complementary specialist services.

“Capitus is a recognised and highly respected tax incentives advisory business and I am particularly excited by the additional expertise and cross referral opportunities the business will bring to the Group.”

Kevin Meyer and Aubrey Calderwood, co-founders of Capitus said: “This is a very exciting opportunity for Capitus. It provides us with an excellent platform for our continued growth and allows us to expand the range of services that we offer.

“We have, for some time, realised that having access to high quality legal expertise, particularly in the areas of real estate, construction and tax, would enhance the quality of services that we can offer our clients.

“Our tie up with Gateley, which we believe to be the first between an RICS regulated firm and a full service national law firm, gives us access to this expertise and provides us with many additional commercial opportunities.

“We are confident that this shall help us achieve our aim of becoming the number one fiscal incentives practice in the UK.”