Wednesday 30th January 2008
Bank of Scotland Corporate, part of the HBOS Group, today completed its move to 40 Springardens – the bank's new flagship office in Manchester.
More than 160 staff have relocated from offices in and around Manchester to the new flagship premises at 40 Springardens, owned by Langtree, in a move that signals the bank's intention to extend its footprint in the North West corporate market. Bank of Scotland Corporate's relocation to the central state of the artoffice will enable it to accommodate further growth in the business, with the potential of recruiting a significant number of further colleagues to resource the burgeoning new business pipeline.
The move to 40 Springardens supports the bank's regional ambitions of increasing its share of the region's lucrative deals market through its Integrated Finance offering, whilst snapping up more business in the real estate and commercial sectors. It coincides with Bank of Scotland's renewed efforts to tempt business away from the Big Four banks in England and Wales by launching a range of market-leading products to wholesale and manufacturing businesses.
The bank's Integrated Finance unit, led by Donald Fowler in the North of England, funded three of the North West's biggest deals during 2007 - the £255 million buyout of Ainscough Crane Hire in Wigan, the £41 million secondary management buyout of Macclesfield-based manufacturer Gradus Group and the £35 million secondary management buyout of Manchester-based oil and gas valve manufacturer, Bifold FluidPower (Holdings) Limited.
Bank of Scotland has leased four of the eight floors with the intention of occupying the top two floors, plus half the Ground floor to accommodate a new Corporate branch. The bank will be looking to sub-let floors 5 and 6. The 8th floor comprises a Corporate reception, a meeting suite consisting of four meeting rooms and a boardroom, each with video conferencing facilities, and a further three meeting rooms. The 7th floor comprises five smaller meeting rooms and a staff kitchen.
Tim Rigg, Head of Commercial Banking for the North West, commented:
"We've already experienced exponential growth in our presence within the North West over the past few years but the new premises will enable us to move up a gear. By bringing together dedicated teams across our full range of services, we are now in a position to respond more effectively to our customers' requirements whilst, at the same time, saving customers thousands of pounds through market-leading rates on our products. This is a fantastic opportunity for Bank of Scotland to start making major inroads into the North West corporate banking market."
Derek Bald, Head of Real Estate for the North of England, added:
"Since the formation of our dedicated Real Estate team in January 2006 we have seen a substantial growth in our business. We currently have an extremely healthy level of work in progress, which will see this growth accelerate in 2008. Our partnership approach is well demonstrated by our re-location into premises developed by a Bank of Scotland client. The new premises will help our expanding team to capitalise on the current considerable opportunities and help to continue to build our profile in the region".
Notes to Editors –
Bank of Scotland Corporate,part of HBOS plc, has a reputation for excellence in the provision of corporate finance, delivering innovative funding solutions across a range of markets. With experience across many areas of corporate finance, including specialist teams covering Joint Ventures, Integrated Finance, Structured Property Finance, Infrastructure Finance and Housing Finance, Bank of Scotland can draw on an expert pool of professionals with proven track records. Bank of Scotland provides funding to more Management Buy-Outs than any other bank in both the UK and Europe and is now recognised as the top UK arranger for PFI/PPP deals. Bank of Scotland Corporate employs around 9,000 employees. HBOS employs over 8,600 people in the North West (13% of the company’s UK workforce), up 1,300 (+17.8%) since 2001. Total lending at June 2007 stood at £95.8 billion.
