S&W strengthens Irish presence with agreement to acquire Beechwood Partners

Established in 2005, Beechwood Partners provides accountancy and tax advisory services to private clients, their families and associated corporate entities. The deal sees 35 staff and partners join S&W’s Ireland business, which employs more than 80 people in its Sandyford office. 

This forms the first acquisition for S&W as a stand-alone group following its launch as a new professional services business in March 2025 with backing from Apax Partners. Drawing on the heritage of Smith & Williamson, which was founded in 1881, S&W has more than 1,850 employees and more than 120 partners based in the UK and Ireland. 
  
As a leader in the accountancy mid-market, S&W offers clients in Ireland a broad range of services spanning corporate tax advice, assurance and business services and a suite of advisory and digital services that include recovery and restructuring, transaction services and forensic advice. The agreement to acquire Beechwood Partners means that S&W can now also provide its clients with a compelling suite of private client tax solutions in Ireland, while also bolstering its business outsourcing services and business tax offering. 

Andrew Wilkes, CEO at S&W commented: “I’m delighted to welcome the team from Beechwood Partners to S&W in our first acquisition as a stand-alone group as we play out our drive to accelerate growth. Beechwood Partners is a highly respected business that shares our partner-led approach of developing long-standing relationships with clients and adding meaningful value. This deal strengthens our position in Ireland and forms part of our growth strategy of acquiring high-quality accountancy firms with complementary expertise. We look forward to making further updates in the coming months as we continue to strengthen our offerings to our clients through the execution of high-quality acquisitions.”  

John O’Callaghan, Managing Partner in S&W’s Ireland business added: “Acquiring Beechwood Partners builds on our long-standing commitment to the Irish market and forms part of our ambitious expansion plans of growing through M&A as well as hiring staff at all levels. Welcoming the Beechwood Partners team brings a new private client tax service offering to S&W in Ireland and ensures that we can offer our clients in Ireland the full-suite of high-quality accountancy and advisory services that they expect.” 

Weston Allen, Partner at Beechwood Partners added: “Having grown Beechwood Partners as a successful independent business over the past 20 years, the timing is right to pursue an exciting next chapter by partnering with a large, well-established firm. Having considered a number of options, S&W has given us every confidence that this deal will empower us with the necessary infrastructure and support to improve and expand our service offerings while continuing to grow our business and service our clients’ needs. 

“The entire team we have cultivated at Beechwood Partners will form the basis for S&W’s new Irish private client tax service, drawing on the huge heritage S&W have in this area in the UK while ensuring a seamless transition for our unique client base here in Ireland. We and all the team at Beechwood Partners are looking forward to this next chapter with S&W.”

Picture caption (left to right): Weston Allen (Beechwood Partners), John O’Callaghan (S&W) and David Stafford (Beechwood Partners)