GARBUTT & ELLIOTT Corporate Finance, a division of one of York's best-known independent firms of chartered accountants and business advisers, has racked up £100 million of transactions in a year for the first time.

The achievement represents a significant change in the firm's activity in the regional corporate finance market over the last three years, since it embarked on a determined drive to widen its geographic reach, and enhance the type and value of deals handled the medium-sized and owner-managed company sector.

During 2005, the firm's specialist corporate finance team advised on 16 completed transactions with an average value of £6 million. Three years ago, its average deal size was between £1 million and £2 million and in 2004 the team handled ten transactions.

Last year saw two of its largest-ever deals, a sizeable management buy-out in the vehicle distribution sector in West Yorkshire and acting for Innovate Logistics on its purchase of Phil Hanley Limited, of Nottingham.

Another of its major deals was the disposal of Amber Travel, based at Castle Howard, which was the fusion of Inntravel, Great Rail Journeys, based at St Saviourgate York, and Greek travel specialists Filoxena.

This was one of seven transactions carried out in York and North Yorkshire, including the disposal of internet travel organisation Woosh of York; a significant management buy-in of two engineering businesses by a new company established in York; and acting for management on the acquisition of York firm PMS marketing.

The firm's success bucks the regional trend, where overall the value of transactions halved from the 2004 record of £2 billion to a little more than £1 billion last year.

There were 50 deals under £10 million, the lowest for five years and a 15 per cent fall on 2004. The 11 transactions completed in the £10 million to £100 million segment, was almost half the level for the previous year.

Richard Feltham, head of corporate finance, said: "We have made a number of new appointments and now have a very talented, eight-strong corporate finance team across our offices in York and Leeds. We are determined to continue building on the success of 2005 and currently have a healthy pipeline of deals at various stages for this year."

Garbutt & Elliott managing director David Dickson said: "The depth of our expertise in corporate finance and the level of experience we are able to commit to transactions gives us a highly competitive edge that has driven our penetration of the mid-tier deals market.

"We had some very ambitious targets when we embarked on this growth strategy, and we are delighted to be ahead of our business projections at this stage."

Updated: 11:01 Wednesday, March 01, 2006