LONDON: Knights Group Holdings, one of the UK’s fastest growing legal and professional services businesses, has agreed to acquire the entire issued share capital of ERT Law Limited (ERT) for £1.8 million.
The acquisition of ERT builds on the Company’s recently established presence in Birmingham, in line with the Group’s strategy to accelerate its organic growth through carefully targeted acquisitions which are a strong cultural fit and strengthen existing offices, add new geographies or complementary business services.
ERT, a commercial litigation law firm in Birmingham, is a specialist in commercial litigation, servicing a number of blue-chip and FTSE listed companies. Its 24 fee earners will join the 32 fee earners in Birmingham following the acquisition of Emms Gilmore Liberson in November 2019, further strengthening the Company’s high quality platform in the important and attractive West Midlands region. Following completion, the total number of fee earners across the Company will be 633.
In its unaudited accounts for the year ending 30 April 2019, ERT reported revenue of circa £2m with a corporatised PBT margin of circa 15%. Following integration, including the delivery of cost synergies, the Board expects ERT to deliver a PBT margin in excess of 20%. The acquisition will be earnings enhancing in the first financial year post acquisition.
Under the terms of the acquisition, Knights will acquire ERT from its three existing shareholders on a debt free, cash free basis for a total consideration of £1.8 million.
Commenting on the acquisition, David Beech, CEO of Knights, said: “This is an exciting addition to our recently acquired operations in Birmingham, which is in line with our strategy to grow our share of key geographic markets outside London. Following the acquisition of EGL in November, today’s update is testament to the momentum that Knights has built since its IPO in 2018 and its ability to attract high calibre businesses to the Group.”
Neil Eaton, partner of ERT, added: “We are proud of the reputation we have built in Birmingham and look forward to building upon this as part of Knights, which is well suited to supporting our ambitious plans as part of a growing full-service firm in Birmingham.”