Cheshire law firm sees 10% rise in corporate deals

Cheshire law firm, SAS Daniels, has reported a record year for its corporate deal activity, despite the coronavirus pandemic.

During 2020, the firm has advised on 30 deals with an aggregate value of £125 million across its four offices: Chester, Congleton, Macclesfield and Stockport.

The firm’s six-strong corporate team handled deals across a wide range of sectors and locations, with the Corporate and Commercial department having recently achieved a Tier 1 ranking in the Legal 500 2021 UK guide.

The firm also achieved 10 additional rankings for other specialist areas across the Legal 500. The firm was also recognised in the Chambers and Partners 2021, for both its commercial and other departments.

Standout deals include:

• acting for Knutsford based Zanos after it was bought by Stort Chemicals
• advising Andrew and Karen Oliver on their purchase of the iconic Dawsons Music retail chain during the first national Lockdown
• the £14.5 million sale of a North West care business
• the £10 million MBO of a North West headquartered specialist engineering business
• the £10 million sale of a North West based security firm
• the £3 million sale of a Hampshire based pre-cast concrete business.

Jeremy Orrell (pictured), head of the Corporate team at SAS Daniels, said:

Initially, we had assumed that challenges of the lockdown would result in a significant reduction in deal activity. However, whilst the pandemic has undoubtedly presented huge challenges for some businesses, we have seen no let up on instructions and these have exceeded the corresponding period last year.

“Many business owners, particularly in sectors which have not been adversely affected by the pandemic, have viewed it as an opportunity to acquire other businesses or to buy out shareholders. This has been accelerated by the constant talk of further changes to the Capital Gains Tax regime next year arising from the review carried out by the Office of Tax Simplification.

“We have also completed several small-scale deals, as well as a number of new tech start-ups which have been fast tracked due to opportunities arising from the pandemic”.