Dains Acquires Hurst, Expands UK Footprint

Birmingham-based accountancy and advisory group Dains has completed the acquisition of Stockport firm Hurst, securing its first foothold in England’s North West and extending a dealmaking run that has reshaped the mid-market professional services landscape since 2021. The transaction, which adds approximately 120 professionals and an estimated £10 million in annual fee income to the group, represents the sixteenth acquisition Dains has closed in just over four years as it pursues an ambitious strategy to build the UK and Ireland’s leading advisory platform for small and medium-sized enterprises.

The deal lands at a moment of intense consolidation in the UK accountancy sector. Private equity capital continues to pour into professional services firms, drawn by the recurring revenue models, sticky client relationships and fragmented market structure that make the sector ripe for roll-up strategies. For Dains, the Hurst deal is particularly significant because it opens a new geographic corridor. The North West is one of the UK’s fastest-growing regional economies, home to a dense cluster of entrepreneurial owner-managed businesses that sit squarely within the group’s target client base. Until now, that territory had remained a conspicuous gap in the Dains network.

Hurst, founded in 1982 and headquartered at 3 Stockport Exchange, has built a reputation over four decades as one of the North West’s most respected independent practices. The firm serves clients across the UK and internationally, with core capabilities in audit, tax advisory, corporate finance and digital transformation. Managing partner Tim Potter leads the business alongside Mike Jackson, who heads business services, and Simon Brownbill, who oversees practice development. The existing leadership team will remain in place under the new ownership structure, continuing to drive the firm’s development while drawing on the broader resources and investment capacity of the Dains Group.

The acquisition is also the sixth transaction Dains has completed since December 2024, when IK Partners acquired a majority stake in the business through its IK X Fund. That deal saw the European mid-market private equity firm succeed Horizon Capital, which had backed Dains since 2021 and supported ten acquisitions during its tenure. Industry reports placed the value of the IK Partners buyout at approximately £250 million, though financial terms were not officially disclosed by either party, a figure that nonetheless underscored the scale of growth the business had achieved under its original buy-and-build programme. The management team, led by chief executive Richard McNeilly, reinvested significantly alongside IK Partners, signalling continued alignment between leadership and ownership on the group’s strategic direction.

McNeilly described Hurst as an exceptional firm with a strong track record of quality, innovation and long-term client relationships. He noted that entering the North West had been a strategic priority for some time, and that Hurst’s leadership, talent and technology capabilities would bring real strength to the group’s national offering. Potter, for his part, said that joining Dains felt like a natural next step for the firm, pointing to shared values around investing in people, technology and client service as the foundation of the partnership. He added that the combination would enhance Hurst’s ability to scale, innovate and support clients at local, national and international level.

The strategic logic is straightforward. By folding Hurst into the Dains platform, both parties gain immediate advantages. Hurst’s clients get access to a wider suite of services, deeper specialist expertise and the infrastructure of a Top 30 UK accountancy group with more than 1,000 professionals across over 30 locations in the UK and Ireland. Dains, meanwhile, acquires a high-quality practice with meaningful revenue, an established client book and a team that has already demonstrated the kind of entrepreneurial culture the group looks for in acquisition targets. The deal also strengthens the group’s specialist capabilities in areas such as outsourced finance and digital transformation, both of which are experiencing growing demand from mid-market businesses looking to modernise their back-office operations.

The pace of Dains dealmaking reflects a broader trend sweeping through UK professional services. Private equity backed consolidators have been steadily acquiring independent practices, offering partners a liquidity event and the promise of accelerated growth through shared investment in technology, talent and marketing. For firms like Hurst, which had set out an ambitious growth plan targeting £20 million in revenue by 2028, joining a larger platform offers a faster route to scale than organic expansion alone. Hurst had already been growing at a healthy clip, with fee income rising 13.5 per cent to £9 million in the year to March 2024.

The wider market context adds further momentum. IK Partners brings deep experience in European mid-market services businesses and a well-resourced fund capable of supporting continued acquisition activity. The firm has stated its intention to help Dains accelerate both organic and inorganic growth, invest in its operational platform and recruitment, and partner with complementary firms across the UK and Ireland. With the accountancy market still highly fragmented, particularly outside the Big Four and Top Ten, there is no shortage of potential targets for a disciplined acquirer with capital to deploy.

Advisers on the transaction included Eight Advisory, Mercia and PDW for Dains, while Buzzacott and DWF represented Hurst.

The Hurst deal also carries symbolic weight. It demonstrates that Dains is not simply accumulating practices for the sake of scale, but making targeted moves into strategically important regions where it can compound value through local market knowledge and sector expertise. The North West, with its concentration of manufacturing, technology and professional services businesses, offers precisely the kind of fertile ground where a well-resourced advisory firm can build deep, long-lasting client relationships.

What comes next will be closely watched. The cadence of six deals in roughly 14 months since the IK Partners investment suggests the group has no intention of slowing down. If Dains continues to execute at this rate, the firm could emerge as one of the most significant consolidation stories in UK professional services this decade. For now, the Hurst acquisition marks another step in that trajectory, adding geographic reach, specialist talent and revenue to a platform that is rapidly outgrowing its regional origins and establishing itself as a national force in mid-market advisory.