SGH Martineau

The last financial year was a busy period for the combined firms of Birmingham-based Martineau and London’s Sprecher Grier Halberstam, which officially became the newly formed SGH Martineau on 1 December 2011.

The merged firm’s turnover increased to £30.4m in 2011–12, neatly combining legacy Sprecher’s £10.4m and legacy Martineau’s £20m turnover figures from the previous year. However managing partner William Barker admitted that the firms’ different financial years have made it difficult to assess the combined firm’s true financial performance after only half a year of trading.

The merger has already shown itself to be an “excellent opportunity for two legacy firms to broaden their offering and to get more out of two client bases”, claimed Barker.

This has been particularly true of the firm’s finance practice, which brought together legacy Sprecher’s strengths in insolvency and legacy and Martineau’s thriving banking practice. Real estate has also provided a boost through combining Sprecher’s property litigation expertise and Martineau’s track record in real estate transactions.

Private client, which is currently run out of the Birmingham office, is one practice area that Barker also plans to offer in London in the near future.

The merged firm has retained a third office in Brussels, which was originally acquired by Martineau in October 2011 after it signed a strategic collaboration agreement with German energy and infrastructure specialist Becker Büttner Held (BBH).