INTERNATIONAL law firm Dentons paid £11.5 million to the partners of Maclay Murray & Spens when it acquired the business in October 2017, the equivalent of around £185,000 per partner.

Dentons noted in its accounts for the year ended April 2018 that the money was made up of the capital Maclay Murray & Spens partners had invested in the business as well as allocated but undistributed profit shares. It said that the sum represented the “cost of the acquisition”.

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At the time of the takeover Maclay Murray & Spens was turning over £44.2m and making a profit of £12.2m. That translated to average partner profits of 195,000 in the 2016/17 year, with the highest-earning partner receiving a share of £349,000.

According to Dentons’ latest accounts, partners in the firm’s UK and Middle East business earned an average of £339,000 in the year to last April. The highest-paid partner received a profit share of £1.4m.

All 62 Maclay Murray & Spens partners, including chief executive Kenneth Shand, joined Dentons as partners, although it is likely that they sit at the lower end of the firm’s profit-sharing scale, which is understood to be merit based.

Dentons chief executive Jeremy Cohen said that 2017/18 was the firm’s “strongest ever” year, adding that it had been marked by “a period of intensive integration activity arising from the merger with Maclay Murray and Spens”.

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“Since joining forces half way through the financial year our lawyers in England and Scotland worked together on more than 1,000 client matters,” he said.

In total, the firm’s UK and Middle East arm turned over £205m last year. In the five months before the deal went live Maclay Murray & Spens turned over £15.8m and made a profit of £3.6m.

Maclay Murray & Spens had previously engaged in merger talks with English firms Bond Pearce and Addleshaw Goddard.