Towry: We'll buy ten firms this year

Andy Cowan (pictured) said the firm, which is backed by a group of private equity players, is in discussions with firms of all sizes about potential takeovers, and plans to acquire at least ten firms this year and more in the next.

Last year the national advisory firm bought five firms, the largest of which was Bluefin, after it raised a pot of £35m from its investors to be used for expansion.

Cowan said funding the acquisitions was not a problem as the firm had access to both cash and debt funding, but resources for effective integration were a "key limiting factor".

"We are pretty confident that we'll do at least another half dozen small acquisitions, one or two at the medium size level, and I'm sure we'll do one at least in the larger area as well," he said.

"The financing is not an issue, it's just about getting the right businesses, pricing and cultures and then integrating.

"The key limiting factor is the integration activity itself, how much you can chew off and still bite and still be able to run a really good quality business on a [business as usual] basis.

"Provided resources will allow us to then we'll carry on acquiring."

Cowan also said Towry was not worried about growing competition in the market, with the number of firm consolidations forecast to increase.

He said: "We don't feel that we are in a lot of competition with the firms that we are talking to, certainly with the pricing, which is normally not an issue as to why we would or wouldn't buy a company.

"It's much more about the quality of the business, the culture, the compliance track record and how the business has been managed."

Cowan said that, though the company is private equity-backed, the investors don't have a final say in which businesses Towry chooses to buy, as deal decisions are largely left to the acquisitions team and executives.

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• Topics
• Investing in the profession
• acquisition
• Towry
• Bluefin