A UK firm with an island office has sold a majority stake in its business.

Leonard Curtis announced the sale to investment management company Pollen Street Capital earlier this week.

The firm, which is headquartered in Manchester, has more than 30 years’ experience in providing restructuring, legal, funding, mergers and acqusitions advisory and business services to small and medium enterprises and corporates throughout the UK and offshore. It has 330 employees across 30 offices, including its one in Douglas.

The group will continue under current chief executive Dan Booth. The firm said Pollen Street’s investment will accelerate growth through product expansion, technology, and mergers and acquisitions.

Pollen Street was supported by Manchester private credit investor TDC. The deal marks an exit for Arete Capital Partners and SVELLA Plc, which acquired a significant stake in August 2021.

Jonathan Guest, investment director at Pollen Street, praised Leonard Curtis as ‘a high-quality business with a proven model, experienced leadership, and strong organic growth’. He said Pollen Street looks forward to partnering with the firm as it scales, diversifies, and helps consolidate the fragmented UK professional services market.

Mr Booth welcomed the deal, saying the partnership with Pollen Street and TDC would strengthen the company’s ability to deliver long-term, sustainable growth.

‘We have our sights on building a business that is sustainable for many years to come’ he said, adding that success was due to the ‘hard work, commitment and brilliance’ of staff.

TDC’s managing partner Gary Davison said Leonard Curtis was a ‘true success story’ with strong management and ambitious plans. He added: ‘As a Manchester-headquartered business ourselves, we’re proud to support a company on our own patch while driving UK-wide growth.’

Advisors on the deal included KPMG Corporate Finance, Hill Dickinson (legal), PwC (tax), BDO (financial due diligence) and Graph (commercial due diligence).