Alternative business structures

Slater & Gordon’s £637m acquisition of Quindell’s professional services division has cleared its final hurdle after regulatory approval was granted by the Financial Conduct Authority. The transaction is now unconditional and on track for completion “shortly”.

The Legal Services Board has finally taken the Solicitors Regulation Authority off ‘report’ over how it is handling the approval of alternative business structures, with the number of licenses it has issued now topping 400.

Gateley and other law firms looking to go public must show they can avoid the costly mistakes the accountancy consolidators made when tried stock market listings, a leading commentator has warned.

The High Court has rejected a challenge to the closure of an alternative business structure by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. It was the first time an ABS closure decision has been tested in the High Court.

National law firm Gateley has today formally announced its intention to float on AIM, saying the “first mover advantage” it will gain by being the first listed law firm will provide “a platform to expand and diversify”.

National law firm Gateley has confirmed reports that work to become the first publicly listed law firm is underway after it appointed bankers to advise on a £130m float on AIM this summer.

Cambridgeshire financial advisers Beacon Wealth Management have used an alternative business structure to buy a local law firm. Tony Larkins, managing director of Beacon, said it had always been his aim to own a law firm and accountancy practice.

The Bar Standards Board has promised to provide “lighter weight and less costly” regulation than its rivals as it applied to become a regulator of alternative business structures last week. “Many potential entities” wanted to “exploit the greater flexibility” that operating as an ABS could provide.

The British Medical Association (BMA) has launched a ground-breaking alternative business structure to service the legal needs of its 154,000 members, Legal Futures can reveal.

The owners of NewLaw Solicitors have received an issue of shares worth £5.16m as final consideration for its acquisition by Redde plc. Law firm-owning Fairpoint Group and Slater & Gordon have also issued stock market announcments.

A firm set up by Mark Johnson, a solicitor and former partner at Geldards, is among the first dozen entities to be named today as regulated by the Bar Standards Board. He did it because of access to Bar Mutual indemnity insurance and the Bar’s “simpler and more transparent” rules.

Sir Michael Snyder, senior partner of top 20 accountants Kingston Smith, has welcomed a change of approach to multi-disciplinary practices at the Solicitors Regulation Authority after describing the “sheer hell” of the firm’s first attempt to become an alternative business structure.

Slater & Gordon has hit its target of raising £456m from a share issue to fund its acquisition of Quindell plc’s professional services division. Around 70% of the £637m initial purchase price is being funded through new shares, with the rest through bank debt.

A groundbreaking alternative business structure that last year embraced employee ownership has seen the valuation of its shares rise 15% over the past 12 months. Staff at Triton Global each received a free initial tranche of shares and nearly two-thirds have since invested further to the collective tune of £58,000.

The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) has licensed 48 alternative business structures to carry out probate work in its first six months as regulator, it has emerged.