Begbies Traynor buys southern insolvency firm CVR for £21m

Manchester-headquartered Begbies Traynor has splashed out nearly £21 million on a new insolvency company, adding its first offshore offices.

The corporate restructuring specialist said it would pay a consideration of up to £20.8 million for CVR Global, an insolvency practitioner focused in the south of England.

“The acquisition of CVR is our largest insolvency acquisition to date and is expected to be immediately earnings-enhancing,” said Ric Traynor, Begbies Traynor’s executive chairman

“The increase in scale and capabilities leaves the group well-positioned to increase its market share and continue to grow its business recovery and financial advisory revenues.”

The deal will add Begbies’ first ever overseas offices, as it gains access to CVR’s offshore sites in Gibraltar, Jersey, Cyprus and the British Virgin Islands.

CVR also has significant insolvency practice, and a strong forensic accounting side, Babies said in a statement to the London Stock Exchange on Monday.

The company’s 90 partners and employees will join Begbies’ offices and teams in the south of England and will operate under the Begbies Traynor and BTG Advisory brands.

In its most recent financial year, CVR made revenue of £9.5 million and normalised pre-tax profit hit £1.2 million.

The acquisition is expected to bring operating synergies of at least £750,000 every year.

Mark Fry, head of business recovery and advisory of Begbies Traynor, said: “The acquisition of CVR significantly increases the scale and specialisms of our business recovery and financial advisory business across London and the South of England, whilst enhancing our overseas capabilities.

“The CVR team has a similar style and culture to our own and will be a highly complementary fit with our business.

“We welcome the team into the group and look forward to working with them.”