Nash: This is just the start
A national practice best known for its credit hire work has become the latest addition to the ranks of law firms owned by private equity.
Queen’s Park Equity (QPE) has bought a majority stake in Canford Law, which has 119 staff working across offices in Hatfield, Manchester, Bournemouth and Glasgow.
Canford founder David Nash said he expected the deal to supercharge its growth – he predicted the firm would double in size in a year, with acquisitions part of the story,
Canford was set up at the start of 2017 by David Nash, who was a partner at now-defunct London firm Rollingsons. He had two, largely silent non-lawyer partners, who have sold up as part of the deal.
As well as working for credit hire organisations, Canford handles commercial litigation and housing disrepair claims.
As part of the deal, Matthew Donaldson has joined as the firm’s chair. He is a former group chief executive of BGL Group, which owns well-known personal injury firm Minster Law, and now chairs other companies in the insurance market.
Mr Nash told Legal Futures that despite the impressive growth over the past nine years, “this is just the start for us”.
His intention has always been for it to be bigger, with more offices and potentially going international, and he wanted to draw on a private equity firm’s know-how, as well as its cash, to help him do it.
“I don’t want them to just say, ‘Hey, Dave, here’s a load of money. Go and buy some firms and take some money for yourself’. We’ve got really healthy reserves and had done really well in terms of putting our money into new ventures and growing over nine years…
“I wanted them to be involved around the boardroom table and talk about opportunities, and then help me align those opportunities so that the growth is successful.”
This would come through a combination of organic growth and acquisitions in the face of growing demand from credit hire providers, insurers and fleet providers for Canford’s services. There will be some expansion into other areas of practice, but personal injury will not be one for the foreseeable future.
Mr Nash added that QPE had already identified some targets for acquisition. “It’s very interesting when you get on this side and see who’s for sale.”
He described commercial litigation as essentially credit control and that one client had dubbed Canford’s approach as “aggressive yet wholly credible”. He added: “I’m having that on the headstone because I think that’s exactly what you need to be as a lawyer.”
He explained how the Mazur ruling came during QPE’s due diligence and he had told them “we’ll come out a better firm from having been shaken up a little bit”.
He went on: “Judgments like this, as much as they are a headache, actually mould your business to be better.”
Mr Donaldson said: “Canford has created market leading propositions and enjoys exceptionally strong relationships with its partners across the market, which provides the business a strong foundation to build on.”
Alex McRae, a member of the investor team at QPE, said: “Canford has established a strong position in the market, underpinned by a clear focus on service quality, an experienced leadership team and a well-defined growth strategy.
“The firm operates in an attractive segment of the legal services market, and we are excited to partner with David and the team to support their ambitions for continued growth, both organically and through strategic M&A.”