Begbies Regulatory News (BEG)

2 Feb 2007 15:13

Begbies Traynor Group PLC02 February 2007 RNS Reach Release 2 February 2007 Begbies Traynor Group plc Establishment of Newcastle Office through a Corporate Finance Acquisition Begbies Traynor Group plc ("Begbies Traynor" or "the Group") (AIM: BEG)announces the addition of a presence in the North East of England, through theacquisition of Newcastle-based Quantum Corporate Finance Limited ("Quantum") foran undisclosed sum. This move fills a gap in the national network of over 30 Begbies Traynor officesin an important region of the country. The Group intends to expand the range ofits professional service offerings to businesses in the North East, by addinginsolvency, restructuring and investigative resources to its Newcastle officebase. Quantum was established in 2000 and is the only independent dedicated corporatefinance house in the North East. The business specialises in fund raising,acquisitions and disposals and has a track record of over 60 completed businesstransactions. The firm is led by Chris Appleby supported by a team of six additionalprofessional staff, who collectively have 50 years of corporate financeexperience. After graduation, Chris began his career at Price Waterhouse wherehe worked for 10 years. In 1997 he moved to chartered accountants UNW beforeleading a management buy-out in April 2000. As the fourth corporate finance team in the Group, Chris and his staff will workclosely with the existing teams in Leeds, London and Manchester. They willexpand the range of corporate finance offerings into refinancing, businessadvice and due diligence investigations work, as well as working with insolvencypractitioners to provide advisory services to troubled businesses. Ric Traynor, Executive Chairman of Begbies Traynor Group, comments: "Corporate finance is an expanding part of the Group's overall business, both intraditional activities such as raising risk finance and advising on deals, andincreasingly in assisting owners and managers to overcome threats to businesssurvival and prosperity. "We are very pleased to have moved into the North East through the acquisitionof the leading independent corporate finance practice in Newcastle. "We intend to help Chris and his colleagues to rapidly grow the business both interms of increasing the number and size of corporate finance transactions andwidening the scale of the practice to include insolvency, business restructuringand forensic expertise." Chris Appleby, Director of Quantum Corporate Finance, said: "My team and I are excited to be joining the Begbies Traynor Group,which further strengthens our core business and widens our professional servicesas part of a dynamic national organisation." Enquiries, please contact: Ric Traynor Neil Boom/Laura BlackExecutive Chairman Gresham PR Ltd.Begbies Traynor Group plc 020 7404 90000161 839 0900 Information on Begbies Traynor can be accessed via the Group's website atwww.begbies-traynor.com This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange