Private equity investors have banked a huge profit on the £400m sale of legal directory and rankings provider Chambers, securing a fivefold return on their initial outlay in 2018.

Ownership of the legal business will transfer to another private equity outfit, US investor Abry Partners.

Chambers was founded in 1990 and provides independent research, data and analytics across 200 jurisdictions. Inflexion said it had committed ‘significant resource’ in the past five years to move it away from being a paper-based publisher to a digital and subscription product. Chambers also moved into markets in China and Brazil.

Flor Kassai, partner and head of Inflexion’s buyout fund, said: ‘The Chambers team built on a market leading brand to turbocharge its growth under our stewardship. They’ve created a highly successful business which has a significant runway for further growth and we are confident that the business will continue to thrive.’

Tim Noble, chief executive of Chambers, said the transformation of the business under Inflexion’s ownership had been ‘nothing short of extraordinary’ to build on the strength of the brand.

Nick Scola, partner at Abry, said the new owner will continue to invest in people and technology.

Inflexion remains a key player in the legal services sector. It recently became majority owner of the Allen & Overy risk management sideline aosphere. Earlier this year the private equity house agreed the acquisition of listed firm DWF in a deal which is expected to be worth £342m.

 

This article is now closed for comment.