Leonard Curtis invest in South Coast with purchase of Portland

Leonard Curtis Business Solutions Group has acquired Portland Business Recovery, in a deal designed to strengthen their combined presence on the South Coast.

Southampton-based Portland has offices in Hampshire and Dorset and has provided trusted and practical solutions to all sizes of businesses facing financial distress for over 20 years. 

Leonard Curtis employs 239 people across 19 UK offices, including an existing base of its own in Southampton, an offshore operation in Guernsey, and is a provider of corporate restructuring and insolvency services.

Portland has a management team of four directors, including Managing Director Carl Faulds, Steve Godwin, Mike Fortune and Nicola Layland, nine client managers and a team of three support staff. All will be retained as part of the deal.

Carl Faulds will continue to oversee the business-wide delivery of client services in the region, supported by the existing directors and staff and the current Leonard Curtis Southampton team.

The move will enable Portland to add more service lines to its existing recovery capabilities, especially around cashflow support and commercial finance, to support businesses facing financial difficulties and drive recovery growth post-Covid. 

Alex Cadwallader, who heads up Leonard Curtis operations across the South of England, said:

“The enhanced sector specialisms following this deal will leave us well placed to fully service the needs of all clients in this region, including those in retail, financial services, real estate and construction to name a few.”

The purchase is the first since Leonard Curtis attracted investment from family investment office Arete Capital Partners in partnership with SVELLA Plc.