RSM McGladrey to Acquire U.K. Firm

RSM McGladrey has announced plans to join forces with U.K.-based RSM Robson Rhodes.

While financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, the firms announced that they have signed an agreement for RSM McGladrey to acquire the non-attest assets of the firm, which has 900 staff and partners nine offices covering England, Scotland and Ireland.

The deal is still subject to final due diligence and the execution of definitive agreements.

In a statement, RSM McGladrey president Steve Tait said the combined firms will continue to focus on serving midsized companies and that the deal should help his business build a strong world-wide brand.

Both firms are members of the RSM International network.

In October, KPMG International announced that it would combine its member firms in the U.K. and Germany. That announcement was the first by a Big Four firm after the introduction of the European Commission’s Eighth Directive legislation, which will allow cross-border mergers between accounting firms beginning in 2007.

The expansion is the second outside the United States for McGladrey, an H&R Block Inc. subsidiary that ranked No. 6 on Accounting Today's 2006 list of Top 100 Firms, with revenues of $1.2 billion. In June, the firm struck a deal with Munich-based RSM Hemmelrath Gruppe, to create international tax consulting firm RSM McGladrey U.K. Ltd.

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