Ince & Co is being taken over by Gordon Dadds Group (GDG) to create the UK’s largest listed law firm by revenue.
AIM-listed GDG said it has agreed acquisition terms at an estimated price of £34m ($43.62m) subject to final documentation.
The merged entity, Ince Gordon Dadds, will become a new global legal business, it added.
Ince had been looking for fresh leadership and direction since Jan Heuvels’ early departure as senior international partner in August.
It is understood Heuvels’ four-year contract still had six months to run, but he was continuing as a partner.
Former Ince partner Peter Rogan was appointed interim chairman and tasked with continuing Heuvels’ work and finding his successor.
Now the combined company will be led by Gordon Dadds’ managing partner and CEO Adrian Biles, supported by Rogan.
It will be headquartered in Aldgate Tower in London and will have aggregated revenues of more than £110m, with 100 partners and offices in nine countries.
Biles said: “Ince is a highly successful and well-respected business with an iconic brand and I will be delighted to welcome our new colleagues to the group.
“The merger will build upon the complementary strengths of the two firms in terms of industry expertise and range of services. Our management model will also allow Ince’s partners and fee earners to focus even more on providing market leading legal advice to a stellar client base."
"Exciting" day for Ince
In an overcrowded London shipping law scene, Ince was continuously being linked to consolidation through possible mergers or strategic partnerships. Despite talks with Hill Dickinson, no deal emerged.
Rogan said on Monday: “This is an exciting day for us at Ince, with this cutting-edge deal being very much in line with our long-established strategy.
"I’m proud that the Ince name will continue and am very excited to be moving forward together as part of this innovative new structure with access to new capital allowing us to gain greater competitive advantage in the market.
“This merger is good news as it enables us to extend our client offering and invest further in our people who provide the highest quality advice and service to clients in our chosen sectors and geographies."
Price contingent on turnover
The estimated sales price will equate to a percentage of the turnover generated by the equity partners of Ince over the three years from completion on 31 December.
GDG will issue to the members of Ince an aggregate of up to 3m options to subscribe for ordinary shares in GDG at £1.40 each.
It will also settle the capital and current account balances, estimated at £9.1m, due to members from the entities acquired.
Ince's earnings, unveiled in July, dipped from £88.5m in 2016/2017 to £83.4m in 2017/2018.
Heuvels said in August he decided to step down because he felt the time was right to hand over to someone new.
He had been a key figure in the attempt to modernise Ince’s business model to the level of some of its London competitors, and he had scored successes in turning the company round.
When he took over in 2015, some of the partners were regarded as far too comfortable at a firm that was known to give lifetime employment, so he began a shake-up.
Redundancies and departures
A new remuneration system was introduced to incentivise the more ambitious partners, and there was a renewed focus on transactional work to counterbalance a business that he felt was far too heavily weighted towards old-fashioned shipping litigation.
Although profitability began to improve under Heuvels’ tenure, the reforms were still clearly painful in June this year, when the firm was forced to announce 36 redundancies.
Last week, TradeWinds reported that two senior Ince lawyers in Singapore, managing partner John Simpson and head of Ince’s local ship finance team Martin Brown, were quitting to join rival firm Stephenson Harwood.
And earlier this month, Stephenson Harwood poached Ince insurance chief Joe O'Keeffe.
