Two Boston-Area CPA Firms Merge

Johnson O’Connor Feron & Carucci LLP (Wakefield, MA) and Hartnett & Company (Winchester, MA) announce the merger of their two accounting firms effective October 1, 2014. The combined firm will operate under the name Johnson O’Connor Feron & Carucci LLP (JOFC) and operate out of a new office in Wakefield at 101 Edgewater Place. Michael Hartnett, owner of Hartnett & Company, will become a partner at JOFC. All staff of the two firms will be retained and the newly merged firm will employ 40 individuals.

The merger provides additional resources and expertise allowing JOFC to better serve its core client base of middle-market, owner-managed, family run, and entrepreneurial-backed entities throughout the greater Boston area. JOFC serves industries including real estate, professional services, high technology, construction, healthcare and medical/dental, retail, and manufacturing. The firm also has dedicated service teams providing employee benefit plan audits and third-party administration of retirement plans.

Johnson O’Connor Feron & Carucci LLP is among the 50 largest CPA firms in the Boston area as ranked by the Boston Business Journal.

Source:  PRWeb, Two Boston-Area CPA Firms Merge

Life Sciences Transactions on Rebound in Massachusetts?

Attorney Mark Tarallo writes on mbbp.com that life sciences transactions may be on the rebound in Massachusetts. He points to recent M&A activity involving Massachusetts companies as a signal that the transaction activity may be on a come back. He cites transaction by Inverness Medical Innovation purchase of Free & Clear, Biogen Idec's all-case tender offer for outstanding shares of Facet Biotech, and Covidien's planned acquisition of Aspect Medical Systems recent examples of activity. Read the entire article by clicking on: Massachusetts Life Science M&A Activity.

Mid-Market M&A Outlook for 2008

Mirus Capital Advisors has a great look ahead at mergers for 2008 in its monthly newsletter, Viewpoint which examines both the optimistic and pessimistic outlooks.

"As 2007 winds down, it’s time to start thinking about the health of the 2008 M&A market. This question is of greater concern now than in recent years because, for the first time since 2001-2003, we are experiencing a period of unsettling economic developments, including a volatile equity market, the sub prime loan debacle and related stall out of the housing market, soaring oil and food prices threatening inflation, plus recent lags in M&A volumes and softening valuations."

Download a PDF of the article at www.merger.com.

Lawyers on Why Proposed Merger Not Always A Done Deal

Several sources on why deals fail...

Shannon Zollo on Why Deals Fail - Quoted in Mirus Capital Advisors' Newsletter
Attorney Shannon Zollo is one of several lawyers polled in the April issue of Mirus Capital Advisors' Viewpoint, a newsletter focusing this month on the common reasons why deals falter. In the article, Sellers Beware: Five Problems That Can Sink Your Deal, Zollo is asked to comment on disclosures and due diligence. "Buyers can't make a fully informed decision if they don't know all the material facts about a company," he said. Trying to avoid full disclosure, said Zollo, will "invariably come back to haunt you."

Also: Boston Business Journal's Randolph Savings says it has the means to grow without Bristol County details a series of unfortunate events that ultimately killed the proposed merger of Bristol County Savings Bank and Randolph Savings Bank.

After all, the deal was all but done. Bristol County Savings' corporators -- some 81 people -- had already approved the transaction unanimously. A detailed integration and operating plan was formally submitted to the Massachusetts Division of Banks. Randolph Savings CEO Ron Grant and Kelly, Bristol County Savings' CEO, had spent tens of thousands of dollars and scores of hours checking off the merger's final details.

Plus: Eleven Potential Deal Killers To Spot Early from Business Development Solutions.