People: Azets crosses the milestone of the century with four recruits in corporate finance; Recruitment of a litigation lawyer for a law firm; and more

Four recruits to Azets’ corporate finance team have taken the company’s Birmingham office to a total of 100 new hires.

Lauryn Mayson joins as one of many new graduates across the Midlands, with Zoe Hacking, Pawan Kandel and Sudip Khatri all joining as executives.

Azets, the UK’s largest regional accountancy firm and business adviser for SMEs, with 14 offices across the Midlands, Shropshire and Welsh borders, is targeting quadruple growth in the region over the next five years.

Mark Selby, National Head of Corporate Finance at Azets, said: “I welcome Lauryn, Zoe, Pawan and Sudip to the team and look forward to supporting them on their journey at Azets. Each of them demonstrated enthusiasm and skill, two essential elements in advising our clients over the next 18 to 24 months.

“Azets’ Corporate Finance team – both in the Midlands and nationally – is enjoying the most active period in its history. We expect this to continue as many clients continue to trade strongly after recovering from the impact of Covid, and banks and private equity providers are keenly seeking attractive lending and investment opportunities.

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A Warwickshire law firm has welcomed a new dispute resolution manager.

Jag Sandher joined Blythe Liggins in Leamington after moving from Berkshire, where he was head of litigation for a regional firm and brings with him a wealth of experience, including successes in the High Court.

He said: “I am delighted to join Blythe Liggins’ team of experts and excited about my new role as Head of Dispute Resolution. Blythe Liggins has a great clientele and I look forward to helping them resolve their disputes, whether through the courts or through alternative dispute resolution.

“The work is very varied, which means that my workload can vary from day to day, and that is one of the attractions and challenges of the role. I am also incredibly fortunate to have inherited a team of highly experienced and knowledgeable litigators. »

Previous cases include the successful resolution of a £4million construction dispute centering on the purchase of a part-built development in south London.

He said: ‘My client was in the process of buying the land but a dispute arose over a misrepresentation by the seller of how the foundations of the building had been constructed.

“There was also a dispute over a warranty contract in which the seller was required to continue work on the site while due diligence and legal work continued.

“Ultimately, the claim was settled following our release of approximately 3,000 pages of documents and drawings. It was a great result that pitted me against a major company in the city.

David Lester, Senior Partner at Blythe Liggins, said: “We are all delighted to welcome Jag. He joins us with an extremely impressive CV and our clients will benefit from his many years of experience and expertise in dispute resolution.

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Paragon Development Finance has recruited Ray Wong as Relationship Manager to help increase support for its SMB developer clients.

He joins Paragon from Shawbrook Bank, where he spent two and a half years and was most recently relationship manager. He has also held banking and real estate positions at The Ingenious Group, Secure Trust Bank, NatWest and Santander over the past 14 years.

Robert Orr, Managing Director of Paragon Development Finance, said: “Ray has had a strong time at Shawbrook so we are delighted to have recruited someone with his experience and industry expertise. He will complement our existing team of Relationship Managers and I am confident that will be a great success. »

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Imail Comms, the hybrid messaging company resulting from a recent MBO, announces the appointment of two new directors to its board of directors.

Guy Buswell, former CEO of UK Mail, joins the board as executive chairman and Stephen Agar, who until recently was chief executive of Royal Mail’s Letters business, becomes non-executive director.

Coventry-based Imail Comms was recently supported in its DHL Parcel UK MBO by Mercia Asset Management’s private equity team.

Jill Williams, Deputy Director of the fund, said: “Hybrid mail is growing rapidly as it replaces stamped and franked mail handled in traditional mailrooms, with Imail Comms being a leading player in the market. We are delighted to support Andy, Guy, Stephen and the team in the next phase of growth, and look forward to continued business development over the coming months.

Andy Barber, Managing Director, said: “I am delighted to be working with two ‘heavyweights’ in the postal industry who have a deep understanding of the current and future mail market. I am confident that Guy and Stephen’s experiences will support our plans to expand our new, well-established hybrid and digital messaging services into the commercial and public sectors. Their pedigree in postal services reinforces our ambition to become the undisputed leader in hybrid mail services and I am delighted to welcome them both to the board.