Schofield Sweeney advises Squirrel Storage on its acquisition by US-based Cintas
Monday, 26 July 2010 09:18
Ohio-based Cintas Corporation (Nas: CTAS) today announced the acquisition of Squirrel Storage for an undisclosed sum. Established in 1991 with the Head Office in Leeds, Squirrel was the largest independently owned storage business in the UK, employing 240 people and operating 10 record storage centres across six major cities including: London, Manchester, Leeds and Birmingham.The company will now be known as Cintas Document Management UK.
New to the UK market, Cintas operates more than 390 facilities in the US and Canada, employing 30,000 staff and servicing 800,000 businesses. The company, which saw revenues of $3.8 billion in 2009, specialises in corporate identity uniforms, facility services, first aid and safety, fire protection and flame resistant clothing, bathroom supplies and promotional products, as well as document management services. With this acquisition, Cintas Document Management now serves customers in Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and the UK.
“Squirrel Storage was the perfect strategic investment for Cintas as it has positioned us well to expand our European operations,” said Joe Fribourg, Director of Corporate Development at Cintas. “We also found that Squirrel’s business aspirations and corporate culture aligned very well to ours,” he added.
Simon Ruston, Sales Director at Squirrel Storage, said “Squirrel Storage has developed to a stage where the company is ready for new growth prospects. Cintas has provided us with the opportunity we were seeking in order to expand our operations into Europe.”
The Leeds offices of PKF Accountants & business advisers and Schofield Sweeney Solicitors provided professional advice to Squirrel Storage. US law firm Squires Sanders Dempsey advised Cintas out of their London office.
Top Lawyers Join Schofield Sweeney
Leeds and Bradford law firm, Schofield Sweeney, continues its steady expansion with the announcement today of three new appointments, including two senior figures on the Leeds legal scene who are joining as partners.
Richard Innes, a leading property lawyer who was previously with Walker Morris in Leeds for 28 years, joins Schofield Sweeney's highly regarded commercial property team. He advises on all aspects of commercial property work with particular expertise in the retail sector acting for landlords and tenants. High profile companies, which he has advised for many years and which he will continue to act for at Schofield Sweeney, include The Trafford Centre in Manchester, national retail department store Debenhams, national jewellery retailer Azendi and Leeds-based ATC Properties, which was originally established as Associated Tower Cinemas in 1926 and today has a substantial property portfolio.
An old boy of Leeds Grammar School, Richard is well known in business circles as a larger than life figure, not least for his love of rock music. He lives in Collingham with his wife, two teenage daughters and a collection of 70 electric guitars.
Richard's move to Schofield Sweeney coincides with the firm's appointment of another senior Leeds lawyer, Chris Charlesworth, who joins as a partner specialising in commercial dispute resolution. Chris previously spent 20 years working for a long established city centre firm. He is best known for his work on construction claims and wide range of commercial issues, including the supply of goods and services, intellectual property and professional negligence claims. He is also experienced in advising on health and safety and other regulatory areas.
Tuesday, 25 May 2010 09:56
MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR ACQUISITION FOR HEADLAND MEDIA CONFIRMS STRONG UPWARD TREND IN DEALS ACTIVITY FOR SCHOFIELD SWEENEY SOLICITORS
Schofield Sweeney solicitors has advised international media business, Headland Media Limited, on its strategic acquisition of Newslink Services Limited. The global deal involved Newslink's interests in Bahamas, Cyprus, India and the Philippines.
With offices in Leeds, Liverpool and Tilbury in the UK, Copenhagen in Denmark and Fort Lauderdale and New Jersey in the USA, Headland Media, specialises in the provision of high quality and cost effective media content in text, audio and video formats to maritime, hotel and retail sectors around the world. Earlier this year, Schofield Sweeney advised Headland on its £3.5 million re-financing by Yorkshire Bank.
The acquisition of Newslink by Headland is the latest in a series of deals, for a diverse range of clients, that has kept Schofield Sweeney's corporate team busy since the start of the year. The firm expects deals activity during the rest of May and June to remain equally busy. Schofield Sweeney chairman, Chris Schofield, commented:
“Despite the general market conditions, which remain slow across all sectors, we have had an extremely active start to the year and, with a number of deals due to complete during May and June, the first half of this year is set to be one of our busiest on record.
“When the first signs of the recession started to emerge about 18 months ago, we took a decision to keep the team together and to continue to recruit high quality lawyers that came onto the market. This approach ran contrary to other law firms who have downsized legal teams during this period. I am pleased to say that our strategy has paid off. During our last financial year, we increased turnover by 1%, compared to a 15 – 20% fall in turnover in the legal sector generally. Our corporate and commercial teams is now one of the largest in Leeds and Bradford, which has meant we have been able to respond promptly, and with a high level of service, to businesses that have had deals to complete.”
