The Ince Group has officially been placed into administration and a buyer found for the stricken business.
In a short statement on Friday afternoon, the listed company said Quantuma Advisory Limited had been appointed as administrator and immediately arranged the sale of the business and some assets to Axiom DWFM Limited.
No information was provided on how much the business was sold for.
It was later clarified that Ince & Co. will be a separate operating entity of Axiom DWFM’s and will be managed independently as a separately branded legal services business. The existing partner group of Ince & Co. will stay and attempt to refocus on its core legal services, whilst also improving operations and support structures.
Axiom DWFM has said all existing pay structures will be honoured and other material liabilities of the Ince business will be funded. All Ince Group employees will be transferred to Ince & Co. under their previous terms of employment.
Managing partner Pragnesh Modhwadia, who founded Axiom DWFM, said: ‘We have great confidence in the quality of the Ince & Co. business and the lawyers within it and are very excited that, like AxiomDWFM, the firm is built around differentiated areas of great specialism, market positioning and quality of service.
‘When the opportunity came to acquire a business of the calibre of Ince & Co. we were eager to engage and are delighted that the Ince & Co team shared our enthusiasm. We believe we have a great relationship already and a great opportunity together.’
Ince, a specialist in shipping & energy, aviation, insurance and real estate, along with practices such as dispute resolution, employment, immigration, asset finance, corporate services, regulatory, family & private wealth and related areas, had announced it would seek to appoint administrators earlier this month after a key creditor withdrew its backing for the company. Since then, there have been no updates about the future of those working for the firm.
Donald Brown, who took over as chief executive of Ince Group last year, thanked clients and staff for their patience and loyalty after the uncertainty of recent months.
He added: ‘This acquisition of the Ince businesses will give the firm, our team and our clients a simple and clear corporate and capital structure under professional, knowledgeable and robust ownership. We are underpinned by a group of immensely talented lawyers with deep expertise in our key sectors. After taking over the management of the PLC group, it quickly became apparent that we needed to address a series of poorly structured and executed transactions and expansions.’
Axiom is a full-service firm created through a recent between Axiom Stone and DWFM Beckman. It has several offices in London and bases in Birmingham, Bristol and Swindon.
Axiom recently announced the acquisition and merger of Wiseman Lee, which was intended to increase the firm’s footprint in the capital.
