Merger to create £18m-turnover Yorkshire accountancy firm
ACCOUNTANCY firm BHP is to expand after merging with West Yorkshire firm Clough & Company.
They are to join together to create a £18m-turnover regional practice that will employ 270 people across six offices.
BHP, which lays claim to the title of Yorkshire’s largest independent firm of chartered accountants, will now be placed within the top 40 largest accounting firms in the UK.
John Warner, BHP’s managing partner, described the merger as “a further step towards our vision of being the independent firm of choice across our region”.
He added: “We have always admired Clough & Company as a long-established and well-respected brand in the West Yorkshire marketplace. They very much share our values and culture, not only providing the highest-quality advice to clients but also employing and developing the best people. In particular the merger will add significant scale to our West Yorkshire offering, currently run out of our rapidly-expanding office in Leeds”.
The two firms’ Corporate Recovery and Insolvency teams will combine to trade as BHP Clough Corporate Solutions while Clough & Company’s Cleckheaton office will rebrand as BHP Clough & Company. In addition, Clough & Company’s Financial Services team is to join BHP Financial Planning.
The merger coincides with the planned retirement from Clough & Company of partners Steven Gash and Nigel Westman, and both will remain as consultants.
Nigel Bullas, Clough’s managing partner, said: “As part of our own long-term growth strategy we have identified the need for an international presence, which BHP’s membership of Kreston International will provide, together with highly specialised corporate finance, and consulting capabilities to respond to the increasingly complex demands of growing businesses.”
Banking support for the transaction was provided by Helen Hickingbotham at NatWest in South Yorkshire. Legal advice to BHP was provided by Paul Trudgill at hlw Keeble Hawson, with Susan Clark at LCF Law advising Clough & Company.
