What's in a name?

BHP Corporate Finance will become the new name of BHP Ingram Forrest Corporate Finance with effect from 1 September 2010. This name change follows the merger in 2006 of corporate finance advisors Ingram Forrest Corporate Finance with chartered accountants Barber Harrison & Platt.

Ingram Forrest Corporate Finance, which was founded in Sheffield in 1989, was amongst the first specialist corporate finance advisory firms to be set up in the UK and is believed to have been only the second outside London. Barber Harrison & Platt is the largest independent firm of chartered accountants in Yorkshire and the East Midlands. Following the merger, BHP Corporate Finance has developed the largest and most experienced corporate finance advisory team both in the South Yorkshire region and in the North of England.

During the period since the merger the firm has advised on many significant deals in the region including buyouts at Mayflower Engineering and Davy Markham, the acquisition by Migros of Hallam Beauty Products, the sales of Crawshaw Butchers and Jex Engineering together with a long list of other transactions including well known local names such as Dig for Fire, Gilders, Go Outdoors, Special Steels Group and H Turner.

Led by partners David Forrest, Don Gray, and Stephen Ingram the multi-award winning team at BHP Corporate Finance will continue to provide lead advisory and transaction support services to businesses, management teams, private equity investors and banks.

Stephen Ingram commented “The merger with Barber Harrison & Platt has been hugely successful and we are now putting in place the final piece of the jigsaw in terms of branding the firm’s corporate finance activity”. David Forrest added “Clients and advisors continue to receive outstanding advice and service from some of the North’s leading corporate finance advisors under the more streamlined brand name of BHP Corporate Finance”.