Wedlake Bell has advised the members of chartered accountancy firm Carter Backer Winter (“CBW“) on its sale to Gravita, a portfolio company of European tech investor Tenzing. The sale means that CBM has climbed the ranks to become a top 30 accounting firm.
Alongside the sale, Wedlake Bell advised CBW on its pre-sale reorganisation, including the divestment of CBW LLP’s corporate recovery & insolvency business and its financial planning business, each to a separate newly formed LLP.
Wedlake Bell’s specialist cross-departmental M&A team was led by Partner Mark Tasker and included Associates Tom Boersma, David Duhig and Trainee Gemma Williams. In addition, Michael Ridsdale advised on corporate tax, Choy Lau on employment, Adam Betts on IP and commercial law matters, Grainne McCourt on real estate, Alexander Dittel on data protection and Paul Ashcroft on pensions.
Gravita was advised by Osborne Clarke.
This transaction reflects Wedlake Bell’s broad M&A experience and capacity to work on complex, cross-practice transactions with multiple connected subsidiary transactions.
Mark Tasker, who led the Wedlake Bell M&A team, commented: “This was a complex transaction with many moving parts. We have worked with CBW for many years and it was a pleasure to see that relationship through to it joining forces with Gravita to become a top 30 accounting firm with a vision to become the UK’s leading tech-enabled accounting firm for established UK SMEs.”