Grice: Accelerating growth
The Octopus Group, the £13bn financial services and energy business, claims it is now the second largest estate planning business in the country after buying WSL Will Writing.
Its subsidiary Octopus Legacy will take on its 300,000 clients and promises to drive yet more work to Octopus Legal Services, a law firm we revealed in January that it had launched to handle probate and estate administration work.
This acquisition made Octopus Legacy the UK’s second largest estate planning business by volume, it said – with Co-operative Legal Services likely number one.
“Octopus Legacy has ambitious plans to become the nation’s largest estate planning firm through a combination of acquisitions and robust organic growth, which saw a 300% increase in its core business last year,” it said in a statement.
WSL has written over 312,000 wills in its 33 years of existence and its website says it worked with 766 clients last month. It charges £170 for a single will and £235 for mirror wills.
Sam Grice, founder and CEO of Octopus Legacy, said: “Pairing WSL’s experience in the industry, with Octopus Legacy’s high-growth, tech-driven and customer-first approach, this acquisition positions us to accelerate our growth even further and cement our status as a leading business in this space – while ensuring our customers continue to receive the very best estate planning services.”
WSL owners, John and Geralyn Donohoe, said: “As a company committed to customer experience, joining Octopus Legacy, a company known for going above and beyond for customers, was a no-brainer.”
In other M&A news, Coventry and Warwickshire firm Alsters Kelley has entered Oxfordshire by buying Banbury-based private client and conveyancing firm Aplins Solicitors, its sixth office.
With three partners and 14 staff joining, Alsters Kelley’s headcount has reached100.
Its managing director, Cathy Wahlberg, said the deal “provides us with an excellent platform for growth”.
Aplins senior partner Philip Waters said: “After years of operating as a small practice, the time had come for us to seek new opportunities. The legal landscape has changed significantly during that time, becoming a great deal more complex with the requirement for increased technology.
“It was however important that we shared the same professional ethics. In a practice such as ours consistency and continuity are essential.
“Equally important however was Alsters Kelley’s ability to introduce new technologies and increased expertise which will serve as a major boost to the firm and mark a new era for the business.”
South Wales law firm JCP Solicitors has expanded to Port Talbot after acquiring Howe & Spender, which specialises in private client and property work. Director Ian Spender will join in August as a director in the lifetime planning team.
It is JCP’s seventh office and chief executive Hayley Davies said the deal was the firm’s “growth strategy in action”
Mr Spender added: “This merger brings new investment to the region and represents an exciting new chapter for the business. It is fantastic to see the legal sector in Port Talbot continue to grow.”
