DWF has advised specialist loss adjuster vrs VeriClaim on its acquisition of Certo chartered loss adjusters, which will allow the Sedgwick-owned company to expand its third-party administration and commercial loss adjusting capability across the UK. The acquisition will increase vrs VeriClaim’s annual revenue to over £17.5m.

As part of the acquisition, Certo’s 70-strong team across Leeds, Birmingham, Glasgow and Brentwood will join vrs VeriClaim, bringing the total number of staff to over 200, and Certo Managing Director David Harrison will become Managing Director of the new VeriClaim TPA business, which will operate under the Certo name, and report to vrs VeriClaim Managing Director Stewart Steel.

Solicitor Darren Ormsby from DWF’s northwest-based corporate team led on the deal, with support from solicitor Ben Sims in the corporate team and partners Tim Green and Tim Scott in the firm’s pensions and employment team. This is the latest in a string of recent high profile deals that DWF’s corporate team has advised on, including acting on the £55m IPO of RedX Pharma; acting for Capita on its acquisition of Pervasive Limited; and for RooGreen Ventures on the management buyout of Total Fitness.

Frank Shephard, partner and head of DWF’s North West corporate team: “This is a great opportunity for both vrs VeriClaim and Certo to combine technical capabilities in order to develop new offerings for clients, and we’re pleased to have advised vrs VeriClaim on the next stage of their strategic development.”

DWF’s corporate team was recently ranked one of the most active legal advisers in the UK and Ireland M&A market in the first quarter of the year, and has expanded its capability with the recent appointments of corporate partners including Chris McLauchlan from Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Christian Francis from DLA Piper, Gary MacDonald from Pinsent Masons, Patrick Eaton from K&L Gates and Richard Britain from Ince& Co.