Business advisory firm reports ‘unprecedented demand’ for sales and acquisition support

Midlands business advisory firm Harrison Beale & Owen (HB&O) says it is seeing unprecedented growth in demand for business sales and acquisition support which has seen its corporate finance team expand significantly since its launch five years ago.

HB&O established its corporate finance service in 2014, specialising in deals worth between £250,000-£5m.

In the last five years, HB&O has supported over 200 projects, including over 100 business disposals or purchases with a total value of £209m.

The firm’s corporate finance team has grown from one full time specialist to a team of five and works across a range of deals including sales, mergers, acquisitions, management buyouts and fundraising projects.

HB&O’s corporate finance division is led by Greg Philp who was promoted to director in January 2019.

He said: “Demand for specialist corporate finance support remains very strong across the Midlands despite the challenges posed by Brexit and other pressures. Typically, specialists focus on larger deals which has left smaller organisations with little support in what can be very complex negotiations. By focusing specifically on projects worth less than £5m, we’ve seen rapid growth in demand for our services which have been well received by our clients.”