Bristol law firm Bond Pearce has confirmed it is in merger talks with Dickinson Dees, based in Newcastle. A tie-up between the two would create a UK top 30 law firm with combined revenue of around £94m.
Bond Pearce has grown its Bristol office over the past decade to make the city its key operating centre. Previous it was concentrated on Southampton and Plymouth, where it also has offices along with London and Aberdeen.
The firm, which has active corporate finance, planning and regeneration teams in Bristol, has been linked with other potential merger partners including earlier this year with Maclay Murray & Spens, which has offices in Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow and London.
Bond Pearce managing partner Victor Tettmar said today: “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.”
Dickinson Dees managing partner Jonathan Blair added: “Bond Pearce’s vision is to compete as a top 30 UK law firm by delivering the best service experience. Dickinson Dees’ vision is to become, by 2020, a top 20 UK law firm.
“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.”
The two firms said no further comment would be made until the merger discussions have been completed.
