The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Legal firm is eyeing more acquisitions
Legal firm and estate agent RSB Lindsays could make more acquisitions as it aims to grow its Dundee operation.
Lindsays first came to Tayside in 2012 when it merged with Shield & Kyd.
It then merged with Dundee-based RSB Macdonald in 2015 to become RSB Lindsays.
Since 2019, 20 new people have joined the firm’s offices in Dundee.
Head of Dundee office Chris Todd said the firm’s growth has been exciting to watch.
“As someone from Dundee who was a partner in Shield & Kyd, it’s been pleasing to see us develop and gain market share in the city,” he said.
“It’s been continual growth for the past nine years and very much an upwards trajectory.”
The firm has 57 staff in Dundee between its office in Seabraes House and estate agency in Crichton Street.
Lindsays also has offices in Glasgow and Edinburgh and can trace its roots to 1815.
It has been involved in six mergers and acquisitions since 2008 as the Scottish legal sector has consolidated.
The business has grown from 11 partners in the early 1990s to 40 partners today.
Managing partner Alasdair Cummings said it was likely more deals will follow.
He said: “For the six deals we’ve brought in there have been 20 opportunities.
“Will there be more? Yes, I think there will be more.
“If you bring good people in, good things happen. That leads to more opportunity.”
Mr Cummings said RSB Lindsays’ growth in the past two years is reflective of the activity happening in the city.
V&A Dundee and plans for the Eden Project and esports arena have increased interest in the city.
Mr Todd said the explosion in house prices in the past 18 months had been remarkable.
He expects growth to fall to a normal, pre-covid level in 2022.
“We have really never experienced anything like we’ve had when the market reopened. It just didn’t stop,” he said.
“The property market’s been the most buoyant I’ve seen it since 2006-07.
“Supply hasn’t kept up with demand at all and that’s pushed prices up.
“Lending is readily available as well, which is the difference between now and the credit crunch.
“I think in 2022 it will cool – it has to. I think we’ll come back to a normal property market; busy, buoyant, active but back to pre-2020 levels of growth.”
Mr Cummings also paid tribute to how staff adapted through the pandemic to help clients in their time of most need.
“We are lucky to be in a sector where demand has been constant but it’s been a great team effort,” he said.