Firms vie for consolidator role
Listed accountancy consolidator Numerica rejected an offer from BKR Haines Watts to be its core firm, before selecting Levy Gee earlier this year.
The revelation comes as it was revealed it had been engaged in talks with at least five top 25 accountancy firms wanting to be the cornerstone of the group.
Numerica began trading on the Alternative Investment Market on Tuesday, after raising £30m, as exclusively revealed by Accountancy Age earlier this month.
Chief executive Tony Sarin, said the group had rejected offers from other ?good? mystery firms, deemed less entrepreneurial than Levy Gee, the practice that was eventually chosen by Numerica as its largest core firm.
Gordon Gilchrist of the Twenty Twenty Group, added: ?By a process of elimination, my best guess would be that Haines Watts was one of the firms.?
Meanwhile, Numerica?s share price has been set at 100p, which values the company at £46.1m. The group, which will expand its practice by acquiring firms around the central Levy Gee hub and by organic growth, said it was confident of announcing further acquisitions in the near future.
Numerica has already bought the non-audit businesses of Levy Gee, Jayson Newman and NMGW for £24m, and the turnover of the combined firm was £28.1m last year.
It has also agreed a revolving credit facility worth £16m with ?one of the major UK clearing banks?, the identity of which will be revealed next week. The group revealed that it was in acquisition talks with eight firms, and is aiming to achieve a turnover of £70m by 2003.
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Levy Gee enters consolidation race