Cooper Parry and Freeth Cartwright team up to support firm's growth 
Added : 22nd December 2007
A funeral services company has been able to expand with the professional legal and financial advice provided by two leading regional firms.
Advisers Cooper Parry and law firm Freeth Cartwright, have both advised Funeral Services Partnership on its recent acquisitions of funeral parlours across the country.
Funeral Services Partnership (FSP) is a Midlands-based company set up seven months ago to create a major group of independent funeral businesses across the UK. Its acquisitions have been supported by a £7.75m funding package from a combination of Aberdeen Asset Managers Growth Capital and the Octopus Intermediate Capital team.
Funeral Services Partnership is currently establishing its head office in the West Midlands. The latest round of funding has enabled FSP to complete the acquisition of a further five funeral businesses in the south of England.
FSP was founded by Phillip Greenfield, the founder of the Fairways funeral business, which he grew to provide 6,000 funerals per year before its 2006 sale to the Co-Operative Group.
The other key members of the management team are finance director Guy Turner, who previously worked for 3i plc and Barry Pritchard, previously area manager for Fairways.
The management team’s intention is to establish major independent funeral services businesses, located across the UK. Following the acquisitions, the group now employs 40 people and operates from 15 locations with a core base of seven funeral parlours in the Midlands and South Yorkshire.
Cooper Parry partner Heath Walker and director Simon Hill provided lead advisory and transaction services support as part of the firm’s integrated offering to its clients.
From Freeth Cartwright, head of corporate Karl Jansen advised FSP on the legal aspects of the funding arrangements, while corporate partners Murray Macnab and Philip Raven advised on the acquisitions themselves.
Cooper Parry Corporate Finance Partner, Heath Walker, said: ‘We are delighted to be working with such an ambitious management team and particularly excited by the fact that we have been involved with FSP from its inception. FSP is ideally placed to take advantage of recent changes in the funeral services market place and is actively seeking further acquisitions.”
Karl Jansen commented: ‘This is a really great example of a forward-thinking company with a robust strategy for the future. Philip and his team are ideally placed to make this business a huge success and we look forward to working with them on a variety of initiatives.’
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