like this generally represents the pinnacle of such a client’s business achievements, and it was a real privilege to work with Ken and Gary to see them reap the rewards for a business that was built over a long period. We have a strong reputation in the region for providing ‘large law firm’ quality of advice with appropriate commercial aptitude, and with very many years of experience of doing so behind us, we integrate our advice efficiently with the wider Group of professionals working on a transaction. Our aim is always to focus on the respective clients’ real commercial drivers, and not scoring points against our opposite numbers. On deals like this, we strongly believe that this pragmatic and commercial ‘can-do’ approach reflects how our clients want us to behave. Do you expect to see any similar deals come through this year? Yes, in an M&A market that remains strong, we are currently taking on a number of sale mandates from a variety of clients and businesses. Our M&A work is a fairly even split between acting for sellers and buyers, but certainly we are seeing a number of business-owners and corporate groups coming to market looking to make disposals – whether on retirement, for strategic purposes or for other reasons. What else are you working on in 2022? Most of our corporate work is focussed on M&A with deal sizes ranging from £5m to £50m, albeit we currently have some larger work in our pipeline for 2022. That said, we have a diverse range of other instructions – joint ventures and equity restructuring exercises are areas that have been highly active this year. With this strong pipeline, and to service demands from existing and new clients, we have a key focus at present on continuing to grow and develop the talent in our corporate team. We have increased our headcount by 167% in the last 12 months, two of our paralegals have recently been offered training contracts with the Group and we are looking to make further recruits into our team at a variety of levels in the next 12 months. It is a privilege to be working in a team with these growth aspirations, and to work on deals of the quality of the Nutri transaction. Above all, we are delighted to see the success of this deal both for Ken and Gary, but also for the Metagenics team. Truly a team effort by everyone involved. TRANSACTION INTERVIEW 109 It is a privilege to be working in a team with these growth aspirations.
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