Lawyers from national legal firm Foot Anstey’s Bristol office have advised the management team of a medical courier firm on a merger that creates the UK’s largest provider of specialist transport services to the NHS and local authorities.
ERS Medical’s tie up with E-zec Medical Transport Services means the combined group now has more than 2,500 employees and a turnover of £100m. 
The new business will also serve more than 50 commissioning bodies from 55 operational sites across the country.
Foot Anstey has a long-standing relationship with Leeds-headquartered ERS, having advised on its acquisition from previous owner SRCL in 2017.
Prior to its merger with Surrey-based E-zec it provided patient transport, medical courier and GP out-of-hours services to more than 40 NHS and healthcare customers across the UK.
Last year it completed around 700,000 patient journeys and transported more than 10m pathology samples.
E-zec, a portfolio company of London-based specialist private equity investment firm Cairngorm Capital, provides patient transport, mental health and specialist transport services to local authorities and last year undertook more than 720,000 patient journeys.
E-zec said the new partnership was strategically important to both companies as their breadth of service expertise was highly complementary. 
As well as creating an unequivocal industry leader with near national coverage, it also offered a unique opportunity to drive innovation and growth.
Foot Anstey’s team working on the deal included partner Duncan Sykes, legal director Tim Young and associate Emma Robinson.
Tim Young, pictured, said: “Both E-zec and ERS have undergone significant growth over the past few years. This merger is part of the companies next steps to bolster growth and expand their geographical reach.
“We feel proud to have been asked to support on the merger for ERS and work with the talented team in conjunction with other parties to achieve the result everyone wanted and will no doubt benefit the industry and patients ERS and E-zec served separately.”
Foot Anstey, which also has offices in Exeter, London, Plymouth, Southampton, Taunton and Truro, advises clients in sectors spanning development, energy and infrastructure to Islamic finance and retail and consumer.
