The corporate team at BPE Solicitors said a strategy focused on highly-acquisitive AIM-listed companies has paid off even with the markets moribund.

The firm are celebrating completing more than ten deals with an aggregate value of £14 million in the past six months.

In the first half of the year the seven-strong team has completed a raft of acquisitions, reverse takeovers and major restructurings for clients as far afield as South Yorkshire and London, as well as the South West and Midlands.

The firm acts for nine listed clients, including Mears Group, Maxima Holdings, the Jeff Group, Hexagon Human Capital and Innovise, many of which are still firmly on the acquisition trail, it said.

The BPE corporate team are also now the general lawyers of choice for AIM-listed Innovise, the fast-growing provider of workforce management software and managed IT solutions.

They also act for the Careforce Group, a nationwide company that provides care for the elderly and for people with physical or learning disabilities.

The firm completed a number of headline-grabbing deals during the first half of 2009, including:

n Advising South Yorkshire-based medical devices company DawMed Systems on the sale of all the issued share capital in its sole operating subsidiary DawMed International;

n Advising Innovise on its acquisition of London IT consultancy Harbrook Consultants;

n Supporting Wyatt Group (now Green CO2) on a reverse takeover, readmission to AIM and acquisition of Innovative Hip; and

n Advising the owners of Coventry-based Visioneering on its sale to Envisage.

Anthony Rudge leads the four-partner corporate team at BPE, which sold its Birmingham-based corporate division to local rivals Irwin Mitchell earlier this year.

He said: “We have been flat out since the start of the year and signs are that this trend is set to continue for the foreseeable future.

“We have a number of clients who remain on the acquisition trail, knowing that there are currently some good opportunities to be had at a competitive price. Other clients are taking the time to restructure their businesses.

“The future looks bright with a number of significant deals in the pipeline. It is at times like this that BPE can really prove its worth.”

Irwin Mitchell made a move into the corporate world in April when it bought what had been the BPE team based on Bennetts Hill wholesale. The move saw the ten fee-earners at BPE, including three partners, move to Irwin Mitchell.

The three new partners were Paul Wakefield (corporate, commercial and property), Andrew Taylor (corporate recovery and litigation) and Mark Elder (commercial litigation).

BPE had been on reduced hours, with staff returning to a five-day week in June.