Blake Morgan advises Vail Williams on Hughes Ellard merger

Leading law firm Blake Morgan has advised Vail Williams on its merger with Hughes Ellard to create the largest property advisory team in the Solent region.

Vail Williams is a longstanding client of Blake Morgan, and this latest merger increases Vail Williams’ property transactional team in the south to 50, while the firm’s national team will expand to more than 160 across eight offices.

This latest merger is part of Vail Williams’ wider strategy to extend its service capability in the regions in which it operates and follows the merger with business rates specialist Bisset Moffatt Hill in 2016 and the acquisition of the general rating division of Ruddle Merz last year.  Blake Morgan advised Vail Williams on both of those transactions.

Hughes Ellard will bring an additional £3m in revenue to Vail Williams, boosting the firm’s target to generate additional turnover of 33 per cent by May 2019 to £17m.

Matthew Samuel-Camps, Managing Partner of Vail Williams, said:

“Blake Morgan provided their customary excellent legal advice on what is an extremely important transaction for Vail Williams. We have a very strong, longstanding relationship with the firm and they continue to offer sound commercial and legal advice to help us with our growth strategy. I would like to thank Manoj and the team who advised us throughout the transaction. We have been very impressed by the level of service received.”

Director of the Commercial Services Division and Partner at Blake Morgan, Manoj Styche-Patel, who led the Blake Morgan team, said:

“It has been a real pleasure to have been involved in the merger of Vail Williams and Hughes Ellard.  In producing the largest property transactional team on the South Coast, it is an extremely important deal for the region.  We’ve advised Vail Williams on a wide range of matters over a number of years and we have witnessed the firm grow into one of the leading property consultancies in the country.  We look forward to working with Matthew and the team in the future as the firm continues its growth.”

Blake Morgan has an enviable reputation for building lasting relationships with businesses and the people who run them. The corporate team is acknowledged within the legal industry and in the independent legal directories for providing a first-class level of service across a wide range of transactions including mergers, acquisitions, sales, private equity and joint ventures.  Recently the South Coast Corporate Team won the ‘Law Firm of the Year’ award for the second successive year at the prestigious Solent Deals Awards.

Vail Williams is a leading property adviser in the UK.  Vail Williams has eight offices across the UK including in London, Birmingham, Reading, Southampton, Portsmouth, Guildford, Crawley and Heathrow.