Archive Editions is acquired by Cambridge University Press, August 2008

"Archive Editions Limited is a small specialist publisher of academic material based in Farnham Common, and has been a client of Harwood Hutton for some 15 years."

When recently the firm became involved in the complex process of due diligence leading to acquisition by Cambridge University Press, the director of Archive Editions, Jim Dening, needed financial services support as well as legal advice. In early August the acquisition was successfully completed, a tribute to the recognition by Cambridge of Archive Editions as a quality business – and also of the quality of accounting backup available.

Jim, now the former director of Archive Editions, says that the acquisition process was hard at times. "We are a small business," he points out, "and the buyers are a vast organisation with a range of financial and legal specialists. Harwood Hutton brought the solidity of a respected firm to match what was required. Richard Hutton travelled with me to Cambridge to a key meeting at which the valuation of the business and the essence of the acquisition agreement were settled. In fact Richard provided not just technical expertise but personal moral support, a great reassurance when you have to take the stress on your own."