CVC to buy legal services provider UnitedLex
CVC Capital Partners has agreed to acquire a majority stake in UnitedLex, a legal process outsourcing firm based in the US, with significant operations in India, and backed by investors including Madison Capital, Helion Venture Partners, and J.P. Morgan Asset Management.
Financial details of the transaction have not been disclosed, but The Economic Times reported earlier this year that the deal would be valued at $200 million and that J.P. Morgan, Helion, and Madison all planned to exit. Helion has been an investor in UnitedLex since 2007, while J.P. Morgan acquired its stake in 2015 when it bought the India portfolio of Canaan Partners. Madison invested last year, acquiring a stake held by Sequoia Capital India through a secondary portfolio transaction backed by Lexington Partners.
UnitedLex was founded in 2006 and provides enterprise legal services on a global basis. Its platform focuses on contracts and commercial transactions, litigation, intellectual property, consulting, and compliance, and includes solutions for consulting, technology, and research for both corporate clients and legal professionals.
The company employs more than 2,700 attorneys, engineers, and consultants in 18 countries, working with clients that include more than 25% of the global Fortune 500. In the last 18 months, UnitedLex closed deals worth $1.5 billion in total contract value.
“UnitedLex has a multi-billion-dollar opportunity ahead of it, with legal services being one of the few remaining verticals that is early in the penetration curve of technology, consulting, and solution delivery,” said Siddharth Patel, a senior managing director at CVC, in a statement. “Now is the perfect time for us to provide significant capital to enhance its growth and scale, the beginnings of which we’ve already seen.”
CVC is currently investing its fourth pan-Asia fund, which closed at $3.5 billion in 2014. It plans to seek $4 billion for its fifth regional fund, which will launch this year.
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