HCB Solicitors seen as favourite to rescue Linder Myers

ACQUISITIVE Midlands law firm HCB Solicitors has emerged as the favourite to take over troubled Manchester rival Linder Myers.

Solihull-based HCB, which has swallowed up a number of rivals over the last few years, incorporated a company called HCB Linder Myers the day after the Manchester-based firm announced its intention to appoint administrators last Thursday .

HCB Linder Myers has been listed as a private limited company, registered to a Solihull address, and is listed as active.
 
When Linder Myers – which has an operation in Shrewsbury – filed its intention to appoint administrators, managing partner Bernard Seymour said at the time that the firm was in “positive negotiations” with a number of firms over either sale or merger opportunities.
 
North West based Stephensons Solicitors is also understood to have been interested too. Chairwoman Ann Harrison though was non-committal when approached last week.

She said in a statement: “We are actively open to opportunities to grow the practice through the right merger partner or acquisition. But, we have been linked with various potential mergers and purchasers, none of which have been proved true.

“We wish Linder Myers partners and staff the very best as they go through this difficult period.”

The possible acquisition of Linder Myers would seem to make strategic sense for HCB which in November 2013 entered the North West legal market via the acquisition of six-office firm Widdows Mason, which covers Lancashire, Greater Manchester and Cheshire.
 
The North West acquisition brought the number of HCB offices to 16 including Solihull, London, Birmingham, Stratford upon Avon, Redditch, Lichfield, Walsall, Sutton Coldfield and Alcester, and the group’s annual turnover to more than £10m.
 
Mike Gahan, chief executive of HCB, said at the time of the Widdows Mason deal: “We have acquired eight law firms in the past three years and Widdows Mason is a natural progression for the HCB brand. It also opens up the north of England to further expansion.”