Based in Hertfordshire, Indigo’s seven staff and founder Peter Kane will remain with the firm after the acquisition. The value of the deal was not disclosed. Indigo reported current assets of £1.14m in its latest accounts at Companies House for year end 31 August 2022.

Indigo was set up in 2016 and helps clients in the construction industry secure tax credits, reduce their corporate tax bill, and obtain refunds related to innovative research and development projects. The firm submits hundreds of claims per year with an average client benefit of more than £200,000.

US tax specialist Ryan moved into the UK market in March 2022 when it bought R&D specialist Catax. Ryan LLC reported fee income of $916m (£716m) for financial year end 2022.

‘Our growth strategy throughout Europe is to acquire leading specialty tax firms with strong teams to ensure we offer clients best-in-class service and results,’ said Jon C Sweet, Ryan president of European and Asia-Pacific operations.

‘With the addition of Indigo, we did just that. We are now even better equipped to serve clients in the R&D tax relief space and add value by offering Ryan’s full suite of industry-leading tax services and innovative software solutions.’

The acquisition of Indigo is the latest in a string of recent strategic acquisitions made by Ryan in the UK. Manchester, UK-based Catax was acquired by Ryan in March 2022, thus further strengthening Ryan’s R&D global market position, presenting new service offerings in the UK. It also expanded the firm’s scientific research and experimental development (SR&ED) practice in Canada.

Since then, Ryan has acquired grant funding firm Granted and R&D tax relief consultancy Access2Funding to bolster Ryan’s innovation funding practice in the UK.

‘All of us at Indigo are grateful to join Ryan’s R&D tax credits team,’ said Peter Kane, founder of Indigo. ‘Our vast R&D experience and success is a perfect complement to Ryan’s innovation funding practice. By combining our industry expertise with the full suite of tax services at Ryan, we are able to offer our clients in the construction industry additional tax-saving strategies.’