The Dublin arm of professional services group RSM Robson Rhodes aims to expand its public-private partnership and forensic accounting activities rapidly following a buyout of the group by its US affiliate RSM McGladrey, writes Arthur Beesley, Senior Business Correspondent

Neither the structure of the deal nor the value of the transaction were disclosed. However, it is believed that Robson Rhodes's six partners in Dublin and more than 70 others in Britain and the Cayman Islands have been heavily incentivised to grow the business. The Robson Rhodes practice in Dublin is ranked 15 in the Republic by revenues, but the firm aims to increase scale radically following the buyout.

Both Robson Rhodes and McGladrey, a subsidiary of the Kansas-based publicly-quoted group H&R Block, are members of the RSM International network of professional services firms, the sixth largest in the world. The US firm and its close affiliate McGladrey & Pullen claim to be the fifth largest accounting, tax and consulting service in the US, with some 8,000 professional staff in more than 120 offices.

Robson Rhodes employs 65 in Dublin, at a practice whose biggest business is in the financial sector. A recent survey by Finance magazine said it expects fee income this year of €7 million, up from €6 million in 2005.

Sheila Duignan, partner in charge of financial services in Dublin, said the McGladrey takeover would enable the practice to compete more effectively for business with the top four firms, KPMG, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Deloitte, and Ernst & Young. "It's going to take investment and we expect to get that investment," she said.

RSM McGladrey will acquire all but Robson Rhodes's audit practice, which will remain within a limited liability partnership structure.