Dickson Minto posts turnover hike as private equity revives

Dickson Minto has posted a strong set of year-end figures, reporting a 30 per cent rise in income for the last financial year.

The 15-partner private equity boutique notched up more than £8m in profits for 2003-04, with turnover rising by 29.7 per cent to around £24m, compared with £18.5m in the previous financial year.

Sources said the past 12 months were better than anticipated, attributing the rebound in income to Dickson Minto’s key clients, particularly on disposals where the firm is guaranteed significant fees. In contrast, on acquisitions, law firms involved in private equity work on abort fees.

The rise in profits at the City firm is a huge boost after it reported an 11 per cent decline in 2001-02 and a 6 per cent net income drop the following financial year. This was partly influenced by a poor couple of years for BC Partners, which missed out in several major auctions.

Aside from a raft of disposals for BC Partners, last year the firm closed what was then Europe’s largest leveraged buyout for a consortium of BC Partners, CVC, Permira and Investitori Associati on the Seat Pagine Gialle deal.

Dickson Minto was involved on the original acquisition of Seat, providing banking and finance advice, when Investitori Associati bought the group in the late 1990s.

Dickson Minto declined to comment.