Knights buys Thames Valley firm THP in £4m law firm acquisition

Consolidator Knights has agreed a £4m deal for Thames Valley firm THP Solicitors, in the latest law firm acquisition to reshape the legal services market in the south east.

The AIM-listed group told the London Stock Exchange today that completion is expected on 25 September. THP's offices in Reading and Henley will close on the back of the deal, with around 30 fee earners relocating into the premium Reading office Knights has already invested in.

What the deal is worth

The total consideration is £4m. Knights will pay £2.4m in cash on completion, with the balance settled in equal instalments on the first, second and third anniversaries of the deal, subject to conditions being met.

THP's own numbers give some sense of the target. Accounts filed this month show net assets of roughly £195,000 as at April, including £608,000 of cash reserves. The firm employed 56 people at that point.

Knights has said no lawyer roles are at risk. That assurance was not extended to back-office staff, which is the familiar pressure point in any law firm merger where two support functions are consolidated into one.

A 35-year Thames Valley practice

THP has been operating in the region for more than 35 years, originally trading as The Head Partnership before its current owners took control around 16 years ago. It is a full-service practice with recognised strength in private wealth, family and real estate — three areas with steady, referral-driven demand and relatively predictable work-in-progress.

Rachel Gaylor, one of four directors of THP Solicitors Limited, said the deal gives the practice a platform it could not build alone. "Our clients will benefit from access to a broader range of services and expertise, while our colleagues will have greater opportunities as part of a larger national business with scale and resource," she said.

Why Knights keeps buying

For Knights, this is a bolt-on rather than a new market entry. The group moved into the Thames Valley last year with the acquisition of IBB Law, and chief executive David Beech framed THP as a way to add density to that footprint rather than plant a flag somewhere new.

"THP represents a compelling bolt-on opportunity that further increases our scale in an attractive and growing market," Beech said. "THP's expertise will strengthen our capabilities, broadening our full-service offering for clients across the region, whilst leveraging our premium Reading office and our recent investment there."

That logic — buy the fee earners, drop the property, run everything through one office and one back office — is the core of the consolidator playbook. Two leases disappear, the operational overhead is absorbed by systems already paid for, and the acquired team arrives with its client base intact.

There is a further live thread. THP covers similar ground to Moore Barlow, which opened merger talks with Knights earlier this year. Those discussions are understood to be continuing regardless of the THP purchase, which would represent a considerably larger piece of consolidation if it landed.

Shares in Knights Group Holdings plc edged up to 179.5p following the announcement.

What law firm leaders should take from it

For independent firms in the same bracket, the read-across is worth sitting with:

• *Scale is being bought, not built.* Regional practices with strong private client and real estate books are attractive precisely because their work is recurring and their people are hard to recruit.
• *Property is the first cost out.* In almost every deal of this shape, offices close and fee earners are consolidated into an existing site. Firms carrying long leases should understand how that affects their own valuation.
• *Support functions carry the risk.* Job assurances in these announcements are usually limited to lawyers. Finance, marketing and administrative teams are where duplication is removed.
• *Balance sheets are modest.* THP's net assets of around £195,000 are a reminder that these deals price the practice — the clients, the people, the recurring work — rather than the assets on the books.

The pace of law firm acquisitions in England and Wales shows little sign of slowing. For owners approaching succession, the question is increasingly less about whether an approach comes and more about whether the firm's financial reporting, client data and lease commitments are in a state that stands up to due diligence.