Intermediate Capital Group acquires significant stake in CPA Global

Legal services firm set for strong growth as outsourcing sector takes off

Intermediate Capital Group (“ICG”), a leading independent investor and fund manager, announces that it has acquired a significant minority stake in legal services firm CPA Global, investing alongside the company’s senior management team and the founding shareholders. 

The acquisition has received the required approvals from CPA Global shareholders as well as the Jersey courts, which sanctioned a new Scheme of Arrangement that came into effect today. The terms of the transaction are not disclosed.

Founded in Jersey in 1969, originally to manage patent renewals, CPA Global has expanded over the years to become a multinational company that is the clear market leader in the global intellectual property (IP) services market and one of the world's leading providers of broader legal services outsourcing, including litigation support, document review and contract management. The legal services outsourcing sector is expected to grow rapidly over the next few years, with estimates of the potential market value in the tens of billions of dollars.

CPA Global’s Chief Executive Officer, Peter Sewell, said: “This is a very exciting time for CPA Global and everyone involved in the company. It represents the next stage in our evolution from an IP partnership handling patent renewals into a global leader in IP and legal services outsourcing. Our growth prospects in the years ahead are the strongest we’ve ever seen as we continue to develop our IP services and software businesses with an expanded range of products and services, while aggressively pursuing our diversification into the wider legal services sector. This sector is really taking off as corporate clients are increasingly turning to outsourcing providers for alternative, more cost effective ways of managing their legal work. CPA Global is already recognised as a pacesetter in legal outsourcing, working with many major international corporations around the world, and, with ICG’s backing and support, we will be even better positioned to take advantage of the opportunities ahead.”

Piers Millar, Head of ICG Minority Partners, said: “Peter and the management team have built a fantastic business over the past decade gaining market share and developing new business areas. We believe CPA Global has a very exciting future and we are really delighted to be supporting them in their ongoing development.”

CPA Global was advised by BDO Corporate Finance. ICG was advised by HSBC and Close Brothers.
 

For further information, please contact:

CPA Global
Steve Clark +44 (0)20 7549 0679, sclark@cpaglobal.com
Rob Coveney +44 (0)20 7549 5505, rcoveney@cpaglobal.com

ICG
Media
Amanda Fong +44 (0) 20 7448 4156, amanda.fong@icgplc.com
Analyst / Investor enquiries
Jean-Christophe Rey +44 (0) 20 7448 5876, jc.rey@icgplc.com

M: Communications:
Charlotte Kirkham or Tim Draper, M: Communications, +44 (0) 20 7920 2331, kirkham@mcomgroup.com, draper@mcomgroup.com

Further information on the companies:

About CPA Global
CPA Global is one of the world's leading providers of legal services outsourcing, including litigation support, document review, contract management, and intellectual property (IP) management and software services. With offices across Europe, the United States, Asia and the Pacific, CPA Global supports many of the world's best known corporations and law firms with a diverse set of legal and IP specific requirements.
Founded in Jersey, Channel Islands in 1969, CPA Global today employs more than 1,300 people in 15 offices in ten countries, including key city locations such as London, Paris, Munich, Washington DC, Sydney, Hong Kong and New Delhi; and has strategic partnerships covering a number of other important markets, including Japan and Korea. The company has a large and diverse list of clients: from major global corporations to small and medium-sized enterprises and innovation start-ups; and from the top international law firms to national and regional law and IP firms. Clients include leading Fortune 500 and FTSE companies, and two-thirds of the Global Lawyer 100.
CPA Global provides management services for its clients’ valuable IP Rights, such as patents, designs and trademarks, helping ensure that IP portfolios are protected, maintained and regularly reviewed in order to maximise value. Through its successful diversification strategy, the company has also established itself as a leader in the growing market for broader outsourced legal services, helping law firms and corporations to realise value by managing risk, cost and capacity on their behalf.

Legal Process Outsourcing (LPO) is changing the legal services landscape and CPA Global is at the forefront of that change. In June 2009, CPA Global announced a landmark deal to supply outsourced legal services to global mining company Rio Tinto – a deal that was heralded by The Times as ‘ground-breaking’ and which attracted worldwide media coverage as well as the keen attention of the legal profession and international business community. CPA Global has firmly established itself as a leader in this sector, signing deals with a number of major international corporations; and investing heavily in building the business with two state-of-the-art facilities in New Delhi, now employing around 600 highly skilled staff, and three onshore delivery centres in the US.

CPA Global’s leadership position is underlined by its ranking as the world’s top intellectual property outsourcing provider and its second place overall for core legal services outsourcing in the Brown-Wilson Group’s Black Book of Outsourcing 2009. CPA Global also achieved more first place ‘quality’ ratings in this prestigious industry survey than any other provider. This follows CPA Global’s success in the International Association of Outsourcing Professionals 2009 Global Outsourcing 100 list, in which it achieved the highest position of any pure-play legal services outsourcing provider. For more information, visit: www.cpaglobal.com

About ICG
Founded in 1989 Intermediate Capital Group PLC (“ICG”) is a leading independent investor in and manager of mezzanine finance, minority equity and related assets with approximately £10 billion under management in proprietary capital and third party funds. ICG has a large and experienced investment team of investment executives operating from its head office in London and offices in Paris, Madrid, Stockholm, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Hong Kong, Sydney and New York. Its stock (ticker symbol: ICP) is listed on the London Stock Exchange. Further information is available at: www.icgplc.com.