Major strategic acquisition for professional services group
AAB, a business critical services group which merged with Leeds-based accountancy firm Sagars last year, has made its largest acquisition so far.
French Duncan, a provider of professional services in central Scotland for over 100 years which employs more than 200 people in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Stirling has been acquired for an undisclosed sum.
It provides a wide range of accountancy and business service solutions to help small and medium-sized enterprises as well as individuals reach their business and personal goals.
This deal brings the headcount of the AAB Central Scotland team to more than 350 people, further strengthening the team to deliver services to businesses and individuals across a key growth region for the AAB group.
The addition of French Duncan will build on the existing AAB Group specialist teams in audit, tax, business advisory, corporate finance & payroll/HR (including health & safety) and doubles the size of the AAB restructuring & recovery team across the UK & Ireland.
It also introduces more than 50 leisure & hospitality finance specialists to the group who provide hotel accounting services to clients across the UK.
Since securing investment from August Equity in October 2021, AAB has been on a strategic growth journey with this latest acquisition marking the eighth business to join the group in the past 18 months.
Graeme Allan, chief executive at AAB Group, said: “This is our largest strategic acquisition to date and significantly strengthens our market position in Scotland.
“We are happy to welcome the French Duncan team to AAB. We share a passion for supporting clients to achieve their goals by offering an unparalleled range of services to the businesses and individuals who choose to work with us, and I know our teams will be able to provide an even better service to our clients as a result of this deal.”
Graeme Finnie, managing partner of French Duncan, added: “This deal is a superb next step for the French Duncan team.
“We have admired the journey AAB has been on and by joining the group ourselves we will create unmatched opportunities for our teams and our clients through enhanced technology, investment and expertise.”
Finnie will take on the role of managing partner – Glasgow for AAB following the deal.
From today – 27 April – French Duncan begins trading as AAB, with FD Hotel Accounting trading as AAB Hotel Accounting and FD People trading as AAB People.
French Duncan Wealth Management and FD Intelligence do not form part of the transaction.
AAB Group now employs more than 1,000 people across the UK, Ireland and internationally.
