The Addleshaw Goddard Building Societies and Mutuals team, has acted as legal adviser to Manchester Building Society (Manchester) on its merger with Newcastle Building Society (Newcastle), that was announced by the Boards of both societies in March 2023 and recently confirmed by the Prudential Regulation Authority. The merger was conducted in accordance with the process set out in the Building Societies Act 1986 and will become effective on 1 July 2023.

Addleshaw Goddard is recognised as having one of the leading building societies and mutuals teams in the UK, advising a significant number of building societies in the UK, as well as numerous other clients within the wider mutual sector. Indeed, Addleshaw Goddard has an unparalleled track record on building society mergers, having acted on each of the previous 24 building society mergers.

Mark Winterbottom, the Finance Director at the Manchester commenting on the work of Addleshaw Goddard, said:

“AG have provided excellent support to the Society’s Board over the past decade and the merger process has run smoothly, due in no small part to Hugh and his team working tirelessly, demonstrating their detailed knowledge of the process and the underlying legislation.”

Hugh Lauritsen, partner at Addleshaw Goddard, who co-leads the Building Societies and Mutuals practice and led the Addleshaw Goddard team advising the Manchester, commenting on the merger said: 

"We have worked closely with the Manchester over the last decade, through their PPDS capital raise in 2013 and finally to the current merger. We are pleased to have supported the Manchester on this transaction." 

Newcastle Building Society has c345,000 members and 31 branches. It employs c1400 people and at 31 December 2022 its total assets were cGBP5.3bn making it the 8th largest Building Society in the UK.

Manchester Building Society has c11,000 members and no branches. It employs 44 people and at 31 December 2022 its total assets were cGBP0.2bn making it the 41st largest Building Society in the UK.

The team at Addleshaw Goddard were Hugh Lauritsen, Tom Crill, Victor Oderinde, Carly Walter and Head of Building Societies and Mutuals Ben Koehne (Corporate), Sarah Harrop and Kathleen Gallagher (Employment); Rosanna Bryant, Toby Davis, Sarah Herbert (Financial Regulation).