Tuck-in acquisition for Countplus
Countplus’ Perth-based investee Lawrence Business Management (LBM) has acquired the legal practice of McDonald Pynt Lawyers.
As a Fremantle-based commercial legal firm, McDonald Pynt Lawyers services a range of accounting referral clients and has annual revenues of approximately $1,500,000.
Its acquisition was actually made through Lawrence Legal Services (LLS), a subsidiary of LBM, in which Countplus acquired a stake in November last year as one of its first acquisitions.
McDonald Pynt Lawyers’ total cost of $0.675 million (including net business assets) was settled with $0.1775 million in cash and $0.4975 million in LLS shares.
A feature of the deal is that Lawrence has an option to buy the 50 per cent of LLS shares that will be held by McDonald Pynt Principals on agreed terms at its discretion just prior to a final buy-out by Countplus Pty Ltd of Lawrence on or about July 2011.
Lawrence founding principal Joe Lawrence said the acquisition of McDonald Pynt Lawyers has expanded Lawrence’s existing legal practice and provides value add services to its core accounting and financial planning activities.
“The scale of the combined legal practices provides the capacity to fully service the existing Lawrence client base as well as capitalise on any external opportunities provided by the Countplus accounting and financial planning network,” he said.
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