Offshore law firm Walkers has agreed a deal with private equity house Vitruvian Partners to co-invest in its corporate services business, as the influence of external capital in the legal sector continues to grow.
Walkers is partnering with Vitruvian to jointly run and grow Walkers Professional Services (WPS), a subsidiary company of the firm which provides corporate fiduciary services.
Though the terms of the deal are confidential, Walkers global managing partner Ingrid Pierce (pictured) told Legal Business that the firm considers the equal partnership between Walkers and PE house Vitruvian to be a ‘market first’ when it comes to receiving external investment.
‘We consider it a first, working hand in glove [with Vitruvian] for our mutual Walkers and WPS clients – of which there are many,’ she said. ‘It would be quite a different experience for our clients which are on both sides of the business if it wasn’t a partnership.’
The capital injection is designed to create ‘accelerated growth’ for WPS and allow the business to enter new markets and invest in innovation.
Pierce said that Walkers had been considering investment opportunities in WPS for some time, as part of a push to grow the business in response to client demand for integrated services across key areas.
But Pierce emphasised the importance of partnering with the correct firm: ‘In Vitruvian we found a firm that is culturally aligned and places importance of looking after its clients and people,’ she said.
Pierce said that Walkers ‘doesn’t have any plans’ to take external investment in the law firm itself, but highlighted that ‘the market is moving and evolving very quickly.’
WPS, established a decade ago, is the firm’s second fiduciary services business after it sold the first, Walkers Management Services, to Intertrust in 2012. Walkers launched WPS in 2015 after clients expressed demand for the return of such services, and it currently has over 300 employees across eight locations including the Cayman Islands, Ireland and Dubai.
In a statement announcing the deal, Vitruvian partner Luuk Remmen said that the investment would ‘support the roll-out of best-in-class technology for WPS, as well as the expansion of its service offering, and its presence in new markets, accelerating growth and innovation across the board’.
Other offshore law firms have previously entered into arrangements with alternative capital providers to grow their fiduciary services business. In 2023 Harneys sold Harneys Fiduciary global private equity firm Hillhouse. Ogier also agreed a management buy-out of its fiduciary business with private equity firm Electra Partners (now Epiris), a deal which closed in 2014.
Walkers was advised on the transaction by Paddock Capital Markets, RSM and a team from Skadden which was led by private equity group co-head and London office head Richard Youle, UK corporate practice co-head Katja Butler, London IP and technology transactions practice head Deborah Kirk and European counsel Tori Sellwood.
Vitruvian Partners was represented by Alvarez & Marsal and Freshfields.
The completion of the transaction is subject to regulatory approval.
