Member Article

Gateley announces IPO: Interview with CEO Michael Ward

National commercial law firm Gateley, which has offices in Manchester, today announced its intention to launch an initial public offering (IPO).

The law firm aims to raise £10m for the company although pricing has not yet been done.

The market value of the company post IPO would be between £130m and £140m.

The offer will not exceed 50.1% of the company, with the partners retaining majority ownership of the firm.

Gateley has over 380 fee earners across its offices and boasts over 4,000 corporate and 1,500 private clients.

Cantor Fitzgerald Europe is acting as financial adviser, nominated adviser and broker to Gateley.

Chief executive officer of Gateley, Michael Ward, spoke to Bdaily, he said: “We believe the move to public markets is the next and logical step in the development of the business.

“The business has been, we’re pleased to say very successful.

“The next step in the process will involve us continuing to develop our products for our clients and continuing to invest in our people.

“We will diversify our service by acquiring complementary law related but non legal businesses which will sit alongside our core legal offering to broaden our appeal and give us a more flexible sales model and more flexible financial model.

“We haven’t got a list (of acquisitions) we know what they will look like but we have no actual targets at the moment.

“For instance HR consultancies, environmental consultancies, town and country planners.”

Michael went on to say that the firm will also look to offer more to its staff, with better chances for progression at earlier stages than in other businesses. He said that Gateley have a 0.2% share of the overall legal market and he would like to see this increase over the next five years.

For Gateley this IPO is about more than fundraising, it is about developing as a businesses to be the best it can be and offer the best to both its clients and its staff.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Sophia Taha .