Accountancy firm bought in expansion plan
KTS Owens Thomas, which has offices in Cardiff Bay and Aberdare, has been acquired by the Baldwins Accountancy Group.
Both offices, which collectively employ 65 staff and service around 2,500 businesses, will continue trading as KTS Owens Thomas. The value of the deal has not been disclosed.
KTS Owens Thomas provides a broad range of accounting and outsourcing services, specialising in forensic accounting, audit, tax and corporate finance, plus other services for clients in both the private and public sectors.
David Owens has been appointed managing director, while Roy Birtles, Gareth Lynn, Phil Hurley and Carol Warburton will remain directors.
This latest deal is part of Baldwins’ strategic expansion plan which has seen them grow from 16 to 37 offices across the UK in the past 18 months, employing more than 950 staff with a turnover of circa £55m.
Messrs Owens, Birtles and Lynn are founders of KTS Owens Thomas, which was set up in 2003 as a result of a merger between KTS and Owens Thomas. Another founding member, Russell Jenkins, passed away just before the transaction with Baldwins was completed.
Mr Owens said: “Russell has been instrumental in helping the business get to where it is today and it’s extremely sad that he was not able to see us take this next step.
“There is an agreed strategic plan to expand across south Wales, and with Baldwins’ investment and support, our potential has been moved up a gear.
“We have an excellent workforce who are all behind this move so we can now focus on recruiting more skilled and professional staff to push forward.
“Alongside our core services, we will be taking advantage of new skill sets that already exist in the Baldwins Group, providing us with the competitive edge to embrace impending technical changes in the accountancy and advisory sector.
“One key driver for us is to develop our forensic and litigation services nationwide, and through Baldwins’ support and investment, we’ll be able to do just that.
“This is also great news for our existing clients, as we’ll now be able to offer them additional services relating to banking and finance, restructuring and insolvency, and new IT platforms that will make it easier to report tax information digitally.”