Four deals in 3 months for BDO Corporate Finance team

Date 16 December Subject Four deals in 3 months for BDO Corporate Finance team Four deals in 3 months for Corporate Finance team BDO Southampton’s Corporate Finance team has completed its fourth deal in just three months – a sign of positivity in the current financial climate according to BDO Partner Paul Russell. He explained: “I believe there is still reason for caution, but these deals highlight a more positive outlook in the market. We look forward to 2010 where we forecast more corporate finance deals in the local area and throughout the South.” Most recently BDO completed the disposal of Surrey-based Thamesdoc, a provider of out-of-hours GP cover and other medical-related activities, which has been acquired by Harmoni, an independent provider of Primary Care Services with offices in Southampton. BDO’s role as lead advisor to the Board of Thamesdoc contributed to the smooth completion of the transaction - made more complicated as the business was a Company Limited by Guarantee with c170 members. During the summer, BDO advised the management team of Modelzone on a Management Buy Out. West Sussex–based niche retailer Modelzone supplies plastic model kits, die cast collectibles, remote control vehicles, railways and slot racing games from 29 stores across the UK including Basingstoke, Guildford and Brighton. The deal was backed by LDC at an initial value of £5.6m, with a further £3.6m being made available to implement an accelerated store roll-out plan. Appointed by Gold Group to sell the business, the opportunity was offered by BDO to undertake an MBO, which was agreed. Although the total amounts on each deal have not been made publicly known, it is thought the four deals combined are worth in excess of £80m. “This level of activity in such a difficult market place is testament to BDO’s position as one of the leading Corporate Finance teams in the South” said Russell. ENDS Word Count: 297 Note to editors BDO LLP operates across the UK with some 3,000 partners and staff. BDO LLP is a UK limited liability partnership and a UK Member Firm of BDO International. BDO in Northern Ireland is a separate partnership operating under a licence agreement. BDO International is a world-wide network of public accounting firms, called BDO Member Firms. Each BDO Member Firm is an independent legal entity world-wide and no BDO Member Firm is responsible for the acts and omissions of another member. The network is coordinated by BDO Global Coordination B.V., incorporated in the Netherlands with its statutory seat in Eindhoven (trade register registration number 33205251) and with an office at Boulevard de la Woluwe 60, 1200 Brussels, Belgium, where the International Executive Office is located. The combined fee income of all the BDO Member Firms was $5.14 billion in 2008. The global network has 1,095 offices in 110 countries and more than 44,000 partners and staff provide business advisory services throughout the world. BDO LLP and BDO Northern Ireland are both separately authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority to conduct investment business. BDO is the brand name for the BDO International network and for each of the BDO Member Firms. Methodology BDO surveyed 148 finance directors and other key business executives, in September 2009 Contacts Debbie Osborne Logical Creative Marketing David Wilkinson BDO Tel: 0845 345 6969 debbie@lcm.co.uk Tel: 023 8088 1791 David.Wilkinson@bdo.co.uk