Fast-growing West accountants and business advisers Old Mill are celebrating their role in the acquisition of one of the area’s largest and highest-profile golf courses and country clubs.
Old Mill’s director of corporate services Tim Lerwill and Victoria Studley, its director of tax planning provided the lead advice to the buyers of The Wiltshire Hotel Golf and Country Club.
The 200-acre property near Royal Wootton Bassett includes a 58-room hotel, 18-hole and nine-hole golf courses, leisure centre with 18m swimming pool and spa, a restaurant, bar, function suite for up to 200 and a clubhouse.
The property was sold by former newspaper tycoon Eddie Shah with a guide price of £3.5m.
The team from Old Mill, which has offices in Melksham, Shepton Mallet, Yeovil, Dorchester and Exeter, worked with buyers Andrew and Ciné Dunkley, Andrew’s brother Nigel Dunkley and his wife Julia, and Haydn and Mandy Barrell – all highly experienced in the hospitality and leisure industry in South Africa.
Andrew was managing director at the Gallagher Convention Centre in Midrand, South Africa, for 10 years. Ciné and Mandy also worked at Gallagher and Nigel has more than 20 years’ experience in financial services.
Haydn is a British qualified PGA golf professional and for the past four years Julia has run her own successful health business.
The three couples started looking at properties in the UK in June 2011 and by November had decided to focus on the South West. Andrew and Ciné made a permanent move to the UK in May last year and heard about sale of The Wiltshire within two weeks of arriving.
Andrew said: “When we drove up the driveway to the hotel, I think we both thought that this was a special place.
“We viewed another 30 or so properties but felt that The Wiltshire had the most potential.”
They made an offer in July, and spent the next six months in negotiations, both with and the sellers and the banks – through one of which they met Tim and Victoria at Old Mill and stayed in touch.
“Given that we were not overly familiar with the UK accounting, tax and regulatory environment, we asked Old Mill to assist us in various areas surrounding the acquisition,” added Andrew.
“We dealt with Victoria in most of these areas and I am very happy to report that she and her team assisted us tremendously in formalising the most optimal way in which to structure the acquisition.
“We are looking at continuing using their services for audit and tax advice.”
The new owners have big plans for The Wiltshire, including replacing much of the golf course equipment and machinery and the spinning bikes in the gym. They also plan to do more on the food and drinks side, including a room service for the leisure village and converting some offices into a hotel restaurant.
This will immediately create new jobs as the existing pavilion restaurant will also remain but serve more traditional pub-style classic meals.
Other areas of big potential are corporate conferencing and weddings. The facilities look out over the golf course and can accommodate up to 250 people.
“Given that our corporate event background is so strong, we believe that this is an area that offers fantastic potential,” said Andrew.
“Our plan for the business is to start realising the potential, as we feel the complex requires fresh ideas and further investment. We want to value our members and make The Wiltshire a club they want to visit and also improve the service for our hotel guests – the present situation needs to be changed to one of member/customer focus.
“Obviously as the business grows, even more jobs will be created; one of the things we are passionate about is customer service – and without the correct staffing levels this is very difficult to achieve. The Wiltshire presents us with a fantastic opportunity and we are enthusiastic about the road ahead.”
Victoria said: “With years of finance, hospitality, health and leisure experience between them, these six individuals have all the bases covered and I am confident they can significantly improve what The Wiltshire has to offer.”
Tim added: “We have really enjoyed working with the new owners on this deal; our involvement in the acquisition shows just what Old Mill has to offer corporate clients and we are looking to do much more corporate finance work like this in the area..”
Pictured: From left, Cine Dunkley, Andrew Dunkley, Tim Lerwill (Old Mill), Hadyn Barrell, Mandy Barrell
