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Scottish partner’s role in £23 million acquisition of Focus stores

A new Scottish real estate partner at national law firm Bond Pearce has played a significant role in the company advising Kingfisher plc on the £23 million acquisition of 31 Focus stores across the UK after the DIY chain went into administration.

Michael Spence joined the Aberdeen office of the company last month to head an expansion of Bond Pearce’s commercial property business across Scotland. However almost immediately his expertise proved invaluable. Kingfisher was looking for a real estate lawyer to manage the property due diligence during the acquisition and Bond Pearce was one of two leading contenders for the contract.

“We were successful because we were able to say we could do all the due diligence, including the one Scottish store in Leven in Fife,” said Michael. “The other contender was unable to do that so my presence was relatively significant to the firm becoming involved. It was good to have early involvement in such an important job for the firm and to find that my presence made quite a significant difference to the offering.

“It also seems to have played tremendously well with Kingfisher who is a very long standing client of Bond Pearce. The ability to work on both sides of the border on property matters is an important string to the bow of Bond Pearce and the client alighted on that. More and more companies are looking to drive efficiencies and to be able to obtain their entire legal input across Scotland and England from one company is quite clearly a significant contributory factor to efficiency.”

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