ACCOUNTANTS JW Pickles & Co, the largest professional services employer in Selby, announced today that it has negotiated two important takeovers by Yorkshire companies.

Its corporate finance team has helped Selby-based process engineering contractor Haycock & Hague to acquire Hull firm Croft Pipework. It also masterminded negotiations by Leeds asbestos abatement company Rhodar Ltd to acquire Western Thermal Company (Taunton) Ltd in Somerset.

The transactions, by the JW Pickles corporate finance team, bring to five the number deals it has completed since the beginning of this year. They have a combined value of more than £15 million.

Haycock & Hague is a £6 million business specialising in plant design, project management, pipework, electrical instrumentation projects and thermal installation for the chemical and food industries. It acquired Croft Pipework, which designs, manufactures and installs pipework and industrial coils, in order to gain a presence in the lucrative Hull market.

Director Steve Barrick said: "Haycock & Hague has been around for 28 years, but this is our first acquisition. We saw a great opportunity to expand our operations from the area between York and Chesterfield over to the East Coast."

The acquisition adds 15 staff to the Haycock & Hague team and £1 million to its annual turnover.

Tony Farmer, JW Pickles's corporate finance partner, said the £15 million turnover Rhodar Ltd, which has a staff of 170 in seven branch offices and is one of the UK's three biggest asbestos removal companies, was "an impressive business with highly specialist skills led by an ambitious management and the deal significantly strengthens their national presence". The JW Pickles & Co team consisted of Tony Farmer, Katy Booth and manager Nigel Clemit. The Rhodar Ltd acquisition followed five months of detailed negotiations and, as in the case of the Haycock & Hague deal, was completed for an undisclosed sum.

Other corporate finance deals completed by the JW Pickles team since the beginning of 2004 involve companies in the financial services, and nursing home care sectors.

The firm, which has more than 40 staff, has a client portfolio consisting of companies, partnerships and associations in a diverse range of industries, including construction, hospitality, entertainment, information technology and manufacturing, as well as interests in agricultural and landed estates.

It also looks after the UK business interests of a number of overseas clients, including several in the US and mainland Europe.

Updated: 10:07 Wednesday, March 24, 2004