A signing ceremony to officially seal the merger of the Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire Chamber of Commerce (DNCC) with its sister organisation in Leicestershire took place today.
DNCC President Tim Parker and Leicestershire Chamber of Commerce Chairman Kevin Harris signed the merger agreement at East Midlands Airport this morning.
The legal papers were finalised and signed last week and the merger took effect legally from 1 December.
The new Chamber will operate under a single group company, trading as Leicestershire Chamber of Commerce in Leicestershire and DNCC in Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire.
DNCC Chief Executive George Cowcher is now Group Chief Executive. Current Leicestershire Chamber Chief Executive Martin Traynor has transferred all his responsibilities to George. Martin and other directors and will leave the company in January.
Members of both Chambers voted overwhelmingly in October in favour of the proposal to merge.
DNCC is currently the second largest Chamber of Commerce in the UK in terms of the number of businesses it has in membership (3,200). Adding Leicestershire’s members (750) to the DNCC roll will not change that position, but will take it a long way ahead of the UK’s third largest Chamber, which is the North East.
Mr Cowcher said: “This signing brings to an end a long process of negotiation and due diligence and completes the merger.
“This development reflects the fact that member businesses from both Chambers recognise the value of merging into a single entity serving the whole of Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire, which will become the premier source of business information, support and other services in the East Midlands, capable of influencing at a national level.
“The merger will allow the two Chambers to pool their resources to better meet the needs of businesses in the three counties, three cities and many towns within the covered area and beyond.
“It will also allow DNCC to extend its broad remit of services to its new members in Leicestershire and to enable the development of new services which reflect the increased impact the new enlarged Chamber will have.”
Source: DNCC
