Mills & Reeve continues North West growth trajectory

Mills & Reeve has continued its growth trajectory in 2025 with an active year for its Manchester corporate team.

The firm’s Manchester corporate team has remained a constant at the top end of the Experian Market rankings over the last few years, having acted on several high-profile deals in the last 12 months across various sectors, including technology, financial services education, healthcare/life sciences, FMCG, built environment consultancy, infrastructure and private equity, and are looking forward to a strong pipeline for 2026.

Regional clients and deals include: advising Contollo Group on its latest acquisition of the project and cost management business, KAM Project Consultants; the strategic investment into Pareto Financial Planning and Luna Investment Management; continued support to Kids Planet Day Nurseries Limited, CorpAcq and Danx Carousel on their ongoing acquisition strategies, and growth capital investment into Citrus-Lime from BGF. These deals completed alongside transactions for Northern Gritstone, Fremman Capital, Hypha Private Equity, GlobalData Plc, Hitachi Astemo, Lanes Group, and closing the year on New Year’s Eve with the sale of GPS to the Morson Group.

Chris Ross, corporate partner and head of the Manchester office at Mills & Reeve, said: “2025 has demonstrated that when high quality businesses come to market, there is a real appetite to get deals done. The range of transactions we’ve been involved with, from spinouts and early-stage to private equity and advising listed entities, shows the diversity and strength of the regional market and our own team’s creds.

“Global and economic uncertainty has naturally created a more cautious deals environment, with greater focus on valuations and due diligence than ever before. However, certain sectors, such as education and technology, continue to attract the attention of buyers. We saw a significant uplift in activity ahead of the Budget as businesses were seeking to realise value ahead of any potential tax changes. We’ve been particularly active with private equity backed businesses and the Manchester market continues to show high levels of resilience – the pipeline for 2026 is already promising.”

The North West corporate team specialises in mergers, acquisitions and disposals, private equity, investment funds, venture capital and equity investments, capital markets, business startups and spinouts. Mills & Reeve’s entrepreneurial clients benefit from the firm’s strengths across private wealth, corporate and commercial services [and its deep expertise and knowledge across its key sectors].