Private equity-backed Lawfront makes biggest acquisition yet

A private equity-backed legal group has made its biggest purchase yet with the acquisition of leading Midlands firm Nelsons.

The deal announced today by Lawfront has more than doubled the size of the business and given it a presence in the region for the first time.

Lawfront, backed by the private equity firm Blixt Group, has already snapped up north-west firm Farleys and Essex practice FJG, and the latest capture gives the company annual revenues of more than £45m.

‘It is a big step towards achieving our vision of a high-quality, national legal services business,’ said Neil Lloyd, Lawfront chief executive. ‘Nelsons is an excellent law firm, with a reputation for quality legal advice. Vitally, it is closely aligned with Lawfront culture, focusing on retaining the very best people in the profession to deliver the very best service to our clients.’

Nelsons staff at offices in Nottingham, Derby and Leicester were told about the transaction on what was the firm’s 40^th anniversary and assured that it will be ‘business as usual’. All staff will be retained, as will the firm’s established brand.

Lawfront said the acquisition gives it a ‘strong foothold’ in the East Midlands from which it will grow further, at the same time as expanding nationally by buying more regional firms.

Stewart Vandermark, Nelsons chief executive, said: ‘It was clear early on that Lawfront was a great fit for Nelsons, bringing greater opportunities for all our colleagues and enhancing the services we can offer to our clients. Nelsons has consistently achieved excellent results and we wanted to remain at the forefront of the consolidating legal market - joining Lawfront ensures that for our ambitious team.’

Blixt is a pan-European private equity firm headquartered in London and claims to have access to more than £200m in long-term institutional investor funding. It invests in the legal, wealth management and accounting sectors, targeting full-services businesses concentrated on private client services and services to small and medium-sized corporates.

Nelsons, which employs around 160 people including more than 110 fee earners, enjoyed a successful 2022. According to accounts published in January for the year to 31 May 2022, profit before tax increased from £2.6m to £3.1m, while turnover increased more than 20% to £20.6m.

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