Just weeks after opening up in Liverpool with a £1.4m investment, financial advisory firm Sedulo Group has acquired one of the city’s best-known accountancy practices. Tony McDonough reports
Financial advisory firm Sedulo Group has acquired a well known Liverpool accountancy firm just weeks after launching its new £1.4m base in the city.
Sedulo, which also has offices in London, Leeds and Manchester, opened its Liverpool HQ in Exchange Flags in the commercial district in May. It has taken a £1m lease on 7,000 sq ft of space and is has spent a further £400,000 on a refurbishment.
Now it has announced the acquisition of Liverpool accountancy firm Wilson Henry, which offers a 30-strong team of experts in audit, taxation and corporate finance. It has been part of the Liverpool professional community for more than 60 years.
The Wilson Henry staff will relocate from their current home at Edge Lane outside the city centre to Exchange Flags. It will continue to be led by the current management team of Hilene Henry (whose father founded the business in 1958), Peter Alcock and Michael Needham.
This acquisition means Sedulo Group, founded in 2009, is now one of the largest advisory firms in the North – employing 175 people.
Founder, Paul Cheetham-Karcz, said: “We are delighted to have acquired Wilson Henry for our Liverpool offering. We never wanted to be one of those advisory firms that comes over the M62 and dips their toe in the market.
“We purposely signed a 10-year lease in the heart of the city and invested almost half a million pounds in developing the space into an innovative environment. Adding Wilson Henry now gives us almost 40 team members within our first 12 months of operation.
“Wilson Henry is a perfect fit for us. It is an already robust business and we can now add additional services to their client portfolio of funding, mortgages, financial planning and forensics.”
Sedulo’s Liverpool office features a Jurgen Klopp and Howard Kendall suite with an indoor garden, dugouts, table football machines and seats in blue and red to pay homage to the city’s two football clubs.
The company is also having its board room designed in the style of a military bunker, complete with sandbags and 1940s Wrens uniforms. Walker House once housed a bomb-proof bunker.
Hilene Henry, managing partner of Wilson Henry, added: “After 60 years of operating independently, the partners are hugely excited by the opportunities afforded by being part of the Sedulo family.
“This represents a pivotal milestone in the Wilson Henry journey and is an excellent time for its clients, team members and stakeholders to capitalise on the opportunity the merger affords – it can only serve to enhance the client and team offering.”