Equistone exits Firstassist Legal Expenses

The exit marks the full divestment of Firstassist Group by Equistone, following the recent disposal of Firstassist Insurance Services to Cigna for £71m.

Previous funding
Equistone acquired 90% of Firstassist Group in 2003 for £139m from Royal & Sun Alliance. The investor separated the company into specialist firms and demerged Firstassist Legal Expenses in February 2011.

Company
Firstassist Legal Expenses is an "after the event" (ATE) insurance provider. The insurance is taken out after a dispute emerged and covers commercial litigations. Based in Croydon, the company has 32 employees and was launched in 1999.

In 2010, Firstassist Legal Expenses had an EBITDA of £5.1m and is expecting to increase it to £6m in 2011. The turnover in 2010 was £9.3m.

People
Andrew Backen led the exit for Equistone and Owen Clarke managed the original investment.

Advisers
Equity – Clifford Chance, David Walker, Andrew Mills (Legal); Quayle Munro, Colin La Fontaine Jackson, Dan Bessant (Financial due diligence); Grant Thornton, Paul Cooper, Iain Stern (Tax).
Company – Stephenson Harwood, Andrew Edge (Legal).

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• Topics
• UK / Ireland
• Financials
• Exits
• United Kingdom
• Equistone Partners Europe