By Ian McConnell

SCOTTISH accountancy firm Anderson Anderson & Brown has announced a “significant” investment from August Equity as it moves to “fast-track ambitious growth plans”.

AAB, which has offices in Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow, highlighted its plans to build its market share across the central belt of Scotland alongside increasing the number of regional hubs it operates from in “key major cities across the UK”. It underlined its appetite for further mergers and acquisitions, following a period of strong growth.

The firm also has a London office which it noted is “focused on payroll, global mobility and virtual finance which supports some of the group’s largest UK and international clients”.

The private equity investment comes hard on the heels of AAB's merger with Glasgow-based acccountancy firm Hardie Caldwell and its acquisition of Edinburgh-based Purpose HR.

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AAB said: "August’s investment in AAB shall facilitate considerable investment in people, both existing and those who recognise the exciting opportunities being created across the group. In addition, it will allow AAB to invest further in tech following the doubling of spend in this area during 2021. It shall also provide significant firepower for AAB to pursue merger and acquisition opportunities across the UK."

Graeme Allan, chief executive of AAB, said, “We are enjoying a fantastic period of growth but see so many opportunities to invest more heavily to fast-track this. August Equity’s investment will be instrumental in helping us build a high-quality regional business services group across the UK. They are also a great cultural fit and are as excited about our partnership and the future as we are.

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“As we grow, we will remain committed to investing and developing our people and of course clients will benefit as we expand our portfolio of tech-enabled services for the SME and enterprise markets. We shall work closely with August as we actively seek M&A opportunities with a particular focus on partnering with firms who adopt a similar ethos to us driven by a passion for helping people, staff and clients alike, achieve their goals. This model will establish a wide equity ownership whilst maintaining the opportunity for real partner progression for the future leadership of the group.”

David Lonsdale, partner at August Equity, said: “We are delighted to be investing in AAB and we are excited to be working with Graeme and the team. We look forward to working together to accelerate the growth of AAB and build a leading tech-enabled, business critical services group which is highly differentiated in the market.”