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Dickinson Dees and Bond Pearce in talks to create £92m firm

12 September 2012 | By Joanne Harris

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North East firm Dickinson Dees and South West firm Bond Pearce are discussing a potential merger which would catapult the combined firm into the UK’s top 40.

The firms confirmed the talks today. The news comes six months after Bond Pearce ended merger discussions with Scottish firm Maclay Murray & Spens (14 March 2012), citing commercial reasons.

In a statement Dickinson Dees’ managing partner Jonathan Blair said: “Our strategies, cultures, sector capabilities and geographic footprints appear to be sufficiently complementary as to warrant consideration of whether, in a rapidly consolidating market, a merger of our two firms would facilitate the execution of their respective strategies.”

“Both Bond Pearce and Dickinson Dees have clearly articulated strategies. By merging the two firms we could take a major step towards fulfilling our longer term strategic goals, implementing now a client and values driven merger to create a firm in the top 30 in the UK capable of delivering the strength in depth and specialist skills required by our clients, be they large corporates, major organisations or high net worth individuals. It is that opportunity that we now wish to explore,” added Bond Pearce’s managing partner Victor Tettmar.

Both firms recorded turnover of £46m in 2011-12. Dickinson Dees’ revenue hit £46.1m, a slight increase on the previous year (16 May 2012), with average profit per equity partner (PEP) of £235,000. Bond Pearce’s turnover was £46.5m, also with PEP of £235,000.

The combined firm would have 125 partners and more than 450 lawyers.

Bond Pearce has offices in Aberdeen, Bristol, London, Plymouth and Southampton. Dickinson Dees, meanwhile, has two Newcastle offices and one in the Tees Valley, as well as bases in Leeds and London. It closed down its York office in June last year, transferring all staff to Leeds (29 June 2011).

Blair told The Lawyer that while the firms had agreed not to make further comment, the talks had reached the stage where the firms were building a business case and this was “making sense”. He added that the discussions were still in very early stages and due diligence had not yet begun.

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Readers' comments (52)

  • Anonymous | 12-Sep-2012 11:43 am

    Oh dear. Announcing merger talks before even looking at the books. It's pretty clear that desperation is driving this process for both parties.

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  • Mr Grumpy | 12-Sep-2012 1:04 pm

    The disco is about to shut and desperation is in the air.

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  • PR Guru | 12-Sep-2012 1:17 pm

    @Anonymous | 12-Sep-2012 11:43 am

    Announcing that merger talks are taking place can be a smart move if the news looked likely to leak. Better to control the story than allow rumours in the press. This is a nice, clear joint statement that will help the talks.

    And the comment about 'desperation' is pointlessly negative and frankly just Troll nonsense. The merger looks sensible and will probably give the combined groups of partners a lot better platform to market from.

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  • Anonymous | 12-Sep-2012 1:46 pm

    I think this is fab news. Both firms need this to move forward.

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  • Mr Grumpy | 12-Sep-2012 2:00 pm

    It is no problem for PR Guru to refer to my comment as being troll nonsense as I am not sensitive.

    To describe oneself as 'Guru' smacks of pretentiousness.

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  • Anonymous | 12-Sep-2012 2:02 pm

    Interesting move to announce first - good point about message control.

    It hardly looks like a desperation move - they look like a perfect match (statistically) and neither firm is in trouble - if anything, they have both shown modest improvements in the last year. This should be exciting for their clients.

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  • Anonymous | 12-Sep-2012 3:24 pm

    So Dickinson Dees's PR team have spung into action. Is anyone fooled by anon@2.02pm saying "this will be exciting for clients"?

    No. This is yet another media fail (like Dickinson Dees's recent attempt to turn Wikipedia into an advertising hoarding, as reported by pther parts of the legal press).

    This merger really reaks of desperation. Two minor firms who are similarly disappointing in terms of performance in offices at different ends of the country. As for their PR Dept labelling people who have a view as "trolls", this is one example of why the firm has become so unpopular in recent years (despite the sterling efforts of Blair & Marshall to stop the rot).

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  • PR Guru | 12-Sep-2012 3:40 pm

    @Anonymous | 12-Sep-2012 3:24 pm

    Personally, I don't work at either firm, nor advise them. It just seems like there is an awful lot of hostility out there for what seems like a positive story. Perhaps there is a cause for this, or perhaps trolls just like being trolls.

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  • Anonymous | 12-Sep-2012 3:55 pm

    The bouncer is standing by the lights. The DJ has started playing "Come on Eileen". Everyone on the dancefloor has coupled up, apart from two awkward souls. One is sporting a big red slap mark on their face (dispensed by an earlier ill fated flirtation with a Scottish lady). Their eyes meet. They simultaneously whisper to themselves "you'll have to do"...

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  • Anonymous | 12-Sep-2012 3:58 pm

    Take two firms who have been falling down the rankings for years, don't resolve their inherent problems and then hastily merge them together. What could possibly go wrong?

    Perhaps they could tempt former Dickie Dees "captain" John Flynn back to lead "Bond Dees LLP"?

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