THE corporate department of regional law firm Harrison Clark Rickerbys, which has its main office in Worcester High Street, has had a third successive record year for transactions and is predicting more ahead as the economy improves.

In the financial year to March 31, HCR's 21-strong corporate department advised on transactions worth more than £336m and forecasts continued signs of improvement in the overall business economic climate.

Rod Thomas, the law firm's managing partner, said: "As we reported last November after our first six months’ results, our business services lawyers are continuing to observe more economic positivity among both our regional and national clients. There is certainly more confidence in the market for deals to happen, and we’re seeing new funding streams, as well as an increase in funding from family office money, particularly coming out of London. Our continued growth is a particular achievement given that the overall economic climate in the UK has remained tough during the past three years.” "

Harrison Clark Rickerbys’ corporate legal team, based at offices in Worcester, Cheltenham, Hereford, Ross-on-Wye, the Thames Valley and Birmingham, comprises nine partners and 12 fee earning staff and is one of the country’s largest outside the major cities. Expertise covers all areas of corporate law, as well as specialisms in corporate finance, healthcare and private equity.

The corporate team's involvement covered from the high profile sale of airport luggage retailer Rolling Luggage to travel luggage brand Samsonite to acting for Green Resources A.S. in its acquisition of Global Solidarity Forest Fund to create the largest African forest plantation company outside South Africa.

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