Wilmington Group has acquired Mercia Group, the Leicester-based accountancy training company with 70 staff, for up to £11.5m. Wilmington has acquired 87 per cent of Mercia through its Central Law Training Ltd subsidiary for £7.1m in cash, and has the option to buy the remaining 13 per cent for £4.4m by 2016. Mercia is one of the largest independent providers of training and support services to the accountancy profession with a client base of around 4,000 accountancy practices. Wilmington stated that the acquisition would strengthen its Legal and Regulatory division and provide opportunities for leveraging key brands and databases into the accountancy sector. Charles Brady, Chief Executive of Wilmington, commented: "We have known the management team of Mercia for many years. They have built a strong and growing subscription based business serving the accountancy profession, which will complement CLT’s 4600 subscription members in the legal market. We anticipate many benefits for both companies”.