Background

Simply Conveyancing Property Lawyers is a business that has been developed and nurtured since 2000, to become one of the UK’s leading tech-enabled conveyancing firms.

The founding directors and majority shareholders wanted to step away from the day to day involvement in the business, and allow the existing management team the opportunity to work with new owners to develop the business further, while at the same time maximise value of the business.

Action

FRP’s Corporate Finance team were the lead advisers to the majority shareholders and needed to find an investor to help support future growth. The exiting shareholders wanted the right custodian for the business, but to also keep the transaction process discreet.

Rather than going out to a wide cross-section of the potential investor sector, FRP undertook a process to identify a handful of mid-market private equity firms that they felt would be a good fit for the business and management team. This ensured that knowledge of the deal in the conveyancing market was kept confidential and reduced the level of management distraction and possible risk to the business. Four potential investors were invited into a highly competitive process, with all four submitting offers.

Outcome

Livingbridge successfully invested into Simply Conveyancing with a structure that provided a good return for the exiting shareholders and, in some cases, continued involvement in the business, as well as supporting the existing management team to progress the strong growth trajectory of the business.