Kevin Harris, partner at the firm, said the new investment would allow Cooper Parry to build on its growing reputation and client base, and signal its commitment to the city and county.
“We have enormous potential to grow our market share in Leicester and we aim to achieve this through investment in new resources. Despite the general economic downturn, 2009 represented our best year since establishing our Leicester office in 2001. We attracted a significant number of new clients to Cooper Parry, completed a number of corporate transactions and we are keen to improve further on this during 2010.
“Over the years a number of our competitors have left the city or failed to invest, which is very bad news for the development of Leicestershire. However, this lack of investment has provided us with an opportunity and as a result we have secured a significant market share.
“Our vision is to be the leading business of our kind in our chosen markets and we are well on the way to achieving this."
The Leicester office currently employs 27 dedicated staff with a plan to grow this to around 50 over the next three years. This increase will principally be achieved through the growth of existing services and the development of a dedicated private client team, which will work alongside the established financial services operation. In addition Cooper Parry is also looking to extend the reach of its strong IT capabilities locally to meet the needs of growing businesses.
The Leicester office also houses six resident partners – the most of any business of its kind in the city. Importantly it has partner-led teams covering each of the core disciplines of audit, tax, corporate finance and business recovery, ensuring that only dedicated specialists get involved in delivering tailored solutions.
Mr Harris, who is also a member of the board of the Leicestershire Chamber of Commerce, added that all new positions will be in specialised areas, further increasing the ability of Leicester to deal with more complex activities.
He said: “Our objective with the Leicester office is to ensure it is predominantly a market facing office focused on winning and servicing new and existing clients. We have no need to replicate central support functions in each of our offices, meaning we can concentrate on our clients and the market.
“Strategically, the growth of Leicester office is critical to the future success of Cooper Parry as a whole which is why we are focusing significant resources and effort locally.
“Our experience of operating in Leicester is that business owners and clients like what we do and the way we do it, and we are really pleased with what we have achieved to date. We are unique in being the only sizeable, locally-owned business in the region which does what we do. This provides empathy with our clients who themselves face the challenges of running successful businesses.”
Despite the reduction in the number of corporate transactions generally as a result of the credit crunch, the Leicester office has successfully worked with local businesses to complete deals. Recently, these have included, amongst others, supporting the management team of Brett & Randall insurance brokers through an MBO and advising the shareholder of Completely Independent Distribution with the sale of certain trading activities to music business EMI.
Cooper Parry set up its Leicester office in 2001 with two staff in King Street, in the city centre. It was the first business to commit to the newly formed Business Quarter through its investment in new build premises in Colton Square. It also has offices in Nottingham, Derby and in the centre of London.
http://cooperparry.com/
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