Quantuma grows North West presence with Bell Advisory deal
Rapidly expanding consultancy Quantuma has once again grown its UK profile, with the purchase of insolvency specialist Bell Advisory. The news follows hot on the heels of Quantuma’s acquisition of WRI Associates, and the launch of its 16th UK presence in March.
Founded in 2010, Bell Advisory is a professional services partnership, formed by two business experts in Manchester. With a combined experience of over 50 years, Gary Bell and Paul Llewellyn specialise in corporate matters, ranging from advisory work to matters requiring formal insolvency procedures. Following a decade of success as an independent business, the current spike in demand for insolvency consultants has seen Bell Advisory draw the gaze of fellow specialist consultancy Quantuma – as the firm bids to ramp up its UK presence.
The resulting courtship has seen Quantuma acquire Bell Advisory, which it says will now operate under the Quantuma brand. Llewellyn and Bell will join the firm as restructuring and insolvency director and manager, respectively. While the pair will continue to be based in their current central Manchester offices, Quantuma’s Manchester office lead Rob Parry is understood to be looking for a larger office space to combine the teams into a single space.
Gary Bell, restructuring and insolvency director at Quantuma, said, “It is an excellent time to join Quantuma’s team in Manchester. I have closely followed the growth that the firm has experienced both nationally, and here in Manchester, for some time and have been very impressed. It is business as usual for my team and I, with the added benefit of being able to offer a wider range of advisory services to my introducers, including forensic accounting.”
Finding a new office will be needed to accommodate the growth Quantuma has experienced in the North West in the last 12 months, as well as its further growth for the next two years. Since opening its first location in the Spinningfields area in March 2019, the firm’s Manchester office has grown its headcount to 14, making it the firm’s sixth largest office. The firm’s regional offering has also expanded since the Manchester office launched, with a focus on forensic accounting, restructuring advisory, debt advisory and investigations. The firm is now also offering pre-insolvency advisory and formal appointment taking.
Carl Jackson, Founder and Managing Partner of Quantuma, said, “We continue to grow rapidly in the North West and when the opportunity occurs to merge with a quality practice with experienced advisers like Gary, then it makes sense to talk… In our first year we have had over 90 instructions into the Manchester office, generated through the relationships the team has with the local professional community. The types of instructions have included restructuring advisory assignments on behalf of the stakeholders of a number of businesses operating in the mid-market.”
Quantuma has been steadily adding to its geographical spread in Britain in recent months. Earlier in 2020, the firm acquired Glasgow-based insolvency and restructuring practice WRI Associates in order to expand into Scotland. The news was soon followed by the launch of Quantuma’s 16th UK office, in Wales.
