Home Legal & Insurance Leading Durham law firm in dealmaking boom

Leading Durham law firm in dealmaking boom

Team looks confidentially ahead at Swinburne Maddison

The corporate team at Swinburne Maddison, led by partners Martyn Tennant and Alex Wilby, is reporting an extremely successful period in which it has completed several significant instructions, creating and securing many regional jobs and boosting local prosperity.

On the back of such successes, the team is looking confidently ahead with a number of prospective and current engagements.

The team has completed a series of transactions ranging from trade sales and acquisitions, MBIs and MBOs to the investment of development and growth capital.

The completed deals include the acquisition of Atkinson Print on behalf of Richard and Julie Bennett, the MBI of Storeys Pharmacy in Sunderland; the MBO of ARC Environmental, the acquisition of the trading assets of the metallic division of Utex Industries by Teescraft Engineering and the sale of Ashfield Veterinary Surgery to the CVS Group.


The team has also advised St. John’s College of Durham University with a £2m refinancing package to assist with the funding of the development of new facilities to include lecture theatres and a new on-site library.

Mercia Fund Managers, one of the leading institutional investors in the UK technology sector, instructed the firm to assist with a proof of concept-based investment in County Durham relating to the commercial exploitation of synthetic materials.
Swinburne Maddison has also played a key role in the delivery of several deals for Maven Capital Partners, one of the UK’s most active private equity houses and managers of the £20 million Finance Durham Fund.

During 2018, the two firms together notched up a series of six figure investment deals backed by the Finance Durham Fund. These included the £825k investment to support the growth plans of Parsons Containers Limited, a long-established Sedgefield based supplier of shipping containers for sale or hire.

A second deal with Maven involved the £1.95m capital boost into Dyer Engineering Ltd, County Durham’s largest independent engineering business, which comprised a co-investment by both the North East Development Fund and the Finance Durham Fund as well as additional private investment.

Commenting on the firm’s current deal flow, Martyn Tennant said: “We have certainly had a very busy time over the last few months working with a range of businesses and transactions.
“What this activity illustrates is that we can provide the technical and broad-based legal expertise that is essential for the successful and swift completion of a wide range of mandates and we enjoy the challenging high-quality legal work they generate.

“Through several recent appointments at all levels, we have a skilled and experienced corporate and commercial team in place and we’re well equipped for the year ahead, which is looking very healthy as we continue to play a key role in supporting a wide range of businesses.”

Alex Wilby added: “It has been a pleasure working with two of the region’s fund managers for the North East Fund in Maven and Mercia. Each fund manager plays a key role in facilitating investment in the regional economy – it’s great to be able to play a part in the process and to see local businesses receive significant investments which allow them to create jobs and prosper.”