by business editor Trevor Sturgess

Business turnaround experts have joined an award-winning accounting firm to set up a new venture.

Nine specialists from Smith & Williamson's Kent office have today (30) teamed up with Reeves & Neylan in Chatham Maritime following the decision to close the S&W operation in Maidstone.

It is the first time that Reeves & Neylan - recently named UK Large Firm of the Year in the Accountancy Age awards - offered corporate recovery as a specialist service.

The economic downturn of the past 18 months has put a lot of pressure of Kent firms and raised demand for restructuring and insolvency services.

Licensed insolvency practitioner Steve Tancock is heading the new enterprise after more than 17 years with Smith & Williamson.

He set up offices in Tunbridge Wells (1997) and Maidstone (2001) before merging both into the Maidstone office in 2006. The Maidstone office closed for the last time on Friday. (27)

Mr Tancock becomes a partner in the Reeves & Neylan Corporate Recovery division. He said: "I am really excited about the move. We have been in discussions a good while now and Reeves & Neylan wanted the team rather than just one of two individuals which was very gratifying."

Clive Stevens, R&N's managing partner, said: "This is a fantastic coup for Reeves+Neylan as it brings valuable new skills into our practice. In particular it will enable us to deliver specialist Corporate Turnaround services to any of our clients who may be struggling in these challenging financial times. Our goal is to enable profitable enterprises to survive."

Smith & Williamson has shut its Maidstone office to focus on larger commercial centres in London, Bristol, Southampton and Birmingham.

R&N, founded more than a century ago, now employs some 60 people in Chatham Maritime. It also operates from offices in Canterbury, Dover, London and Gatwick.