AAB on a roll with 50-plus deal milestone

Accountancy and business advisory firm Anderson Anderson & Brown (AAB) has signed off on 2018 having completed 50-plus deals for the fifth year running.

(L to R) Brian McMurray, Douglas Martin, Lyn Calder and Chris Thompson. Picture: Contributed

The Aberdeen-headquartered firm has significantly increased its focus on deal activity in the Central Belt following its launch in Edinburgh last year and a number of key appointments made throughout 2018.

Some of AAB’s key merger and acquisition highlights in the past year include the sale of flange integrity and maintenance business Equalizer International to Actuant, the disposal of safety training business Survivex to 3T Energy Group backed by BlueWater Energy, and the merger of aquaculture services company Johnson Marine with Norway-based GripShip to form the enlarged AquaShip.

Most recently, Chris Thompson has joined the growing Central Belt deals team, which is led by partner Lyn Calder.

In addition, AAB has committed “significant” investment in the last year developing its equity funding proposition for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), led by Brian McMurray.

Douglas Martin, head of corporate finance at AAB, said: “This is an exciting time for us as we look to build our presence across Scotland and we are delighted to have completed 50+ deals for the fifth consecutive year.

“The deals market across Scotland in general is positive and it was very welcome to see increased activity in the oil and gas sector throughout 2018, with a number of high profile transactions in the upstream exploration & production (E&P) space as well as a strong uptake in oil and gas services deals in the final quarter of 2018. We fully expect that this trend will continue throughout 2019.

“In addition, the growth achieved by the team in the Central Belt is highly encouraging as we continue to expand in this market with a focus on deal initiation activity.”