Shaw Gibbs acquires Wise and Co

Shaw Gibbs has announced the acquisition of Wise and Co, chartered accountants and business advisers.

According to Shaw Gibbs, Surrey-based Wise and Co who have been advising SMEs for over 50 years were “seeking a collaboration to enhance and secure the long-term success of the firm and were also looking to provide a wider range of expertise to their clients”.

The accounting firm also stated that Shaw Gibbs and Wise and Co “have a similar client-base of entrepreneurial businesses and private clients and largely use a consistent IT infrastructure”.

The combination of the two firms will result in a “185 person-strong practice” based over three offices in Oxford, London and Farnham.

Peter O’Connell, managing partner at Shaw Gibbs, said: “There is no doubt that we will gain and learn a significant amount from our partnership with Wise as it is clear they have an abundance of skills, experience and market-knowledge.

“Our expansion plans are based on ‘one culture, one approach’ regardless of geographical location with our company values of: expert, respectful, innovative and collaborative at the heart of all we do. One of our main drivers for expansion is the need to invest in our people, empowering them to take on new challenges and excel in their career path.”

He added: “This helps us to retain our employees and provide a consistent and expert team to best serve our clients. Wise will benefit from this investment and our plan is to retain and develop their existing team in order to support the growth of their operation in Farnham. I am looking forward to welcoming the Wise team to the Shaw Gibbs Group.”

Sharmini Woodings, managing partner of Wise and Co, said: “Wise and Co have been on a transformational journey since inception. Starting as a small business with three staff, we now proudly employ over 70 with the expertise and dedication to provide our clients with excellent services in accountancy, tax, business advice and strategic planning.

“We were looking for a firm with which we could easily integrate but who also have the intention to allow us to operate within our own market and be supportive of the growth of our practice locally.”

She added: “It was important to us to find a firm with a similar culture, operational structure and client-base as well as the drive to provide high quality compliance and advisory services to their clients. Shaw Gibbs are a great fit for us and joining forces with them will also provide us access to a new range of in-house expertise including dedicated VAT advisory, insolvency services and specialist valuation teams to mention but a few.”