Slater & Gordon prepares to complete Pannone deal
SLATER & Gordon is set to complete its tie-up with Manchester firm Pannone in the next week – a deal which has not been without difficulties, and will spark up to 100 job losses.
One area of discord was in Pannone’s regulatory team, where the three partners are going their separate ways. High profile white collar crime expert Anthony Barnfather – who successfully defended former iSoft finance director John Whelan and whose clients include ex-JJB Sports chief executive Chris Ronnie is moving over to Slater & Gordon.
Soon-to-be former colleagues Zia Ullah and Sara Teasdale are leaving though, with Mr Ullah expected to join national firm Eversheds’ fraud and investigations unit based in Manchester as a partner and London-based Miss Teasdale reportedly joining Byrne & Partners in the capital.
Australia-based Slater & Gordon is paying £33m for Pannone’s consumer law divisions, and taking with it 400 staff and £34.5m in revenues.
A further 50 staff will move over to a new stand-alone firm, Pannone Corporate, led by partners Paul Jonson and Steven Grant, leaving up to 100 fee earners and and support staff facing redundancy.
Meanwhile Melbourne-based S&G, which is listed on the Australian ASX stock market said its UK growth drive had helped it report a 21% hike in half year net profit to AUS $22.9m.
Managing director Andrew Grech said: “The performance of the UK business demonstrates that our strategic rationale for entering the UK market is sound, and that whilst still early days, is being executed effectively.
“With the completion of the Pannone transaction later this month, we will have secured approximately 5% market share in the UK claimant personal injury market and have built a strong base for future growth and development.”
