RSM Tenon deal sees Baker Tilly double in size
ACCOUNTANT and business adviser Baker Tilly has more than doubled in size overnight after the completion of its rescue of RSM Tenon, which had around 450 people in the region.
Integration was beginning today, with Baker Tilly regional managing partner Jill Jones stressing that the deal is about growth, not cost savings and job losses.
She said: “It is very exciting – the deal will increase our regional presence from 200 to around 650. The message for today is that it’s business as usual for staff and clients, and secondly that we want to integrate our Manchester and Stoke offices as quickly as we can.”
Mrs Jones said ideally the staff based at the old RSM Tenon Manchester office at Parsonage Gardens would relocate to Baker Tilly’s site at 3 Hardman Street, Spinningfields, before Christmas, or failing that, in early January.
“The regional significance is very considerable. RSM Tenon had some good clients in Liverpool, but never an office, and they do now. In Chorley, where we now have 190 people, we see a great opportunity to grow in Lancashire and Cumbria.
“We have been having meetings with our new colleagues and the response has been very positive – the last 18 months to two years has been a period of uncertainty for them.”
As well as offices the deal brings two additional service lines to the enlarged firm, risk advisory and outsourcing.
All the former RSM Tenon offices in the region will be rebranded Baker Tilly today.
The merged firm is now the 7th largest accountancy firm in the UK, with annual revenues of £350m, and over 4,000 partners and staff working across more than 50 offices.
