100 Manchester jobs saved as MBO team completes Plexus Law acquisition

Manchester- and London-based OakNorth Bank has assisted a management buyout team in its acquisition of insurance defendant claims firm Plexus Law from Parabis Group, saving 100 jobs in Manchester.

The MBO team, which included Parabis founders Andrew McDougall, Tim Roberts and Nick Addyman, was supported with £4.2m in debt finance from OakNorth as it completed the deal.

Earlier this week, seven partners and 36 other employees of Parabis Group, which has been broken up and sold in a pre-pack administration process,joined Manchester-headquartered law firm Horwich Farrelly.

Following the multi-million pound deal, which safeguarded 900 jobs across the UK, Andrew McDougall has become Plexus Law’s CEO, Tim Roberts its commercial director and Nick Addyman the consumer director.

Andrew said: “We had a unique opportunity to acquire Plexus Law, but needed to move fast. After approaching OakNorth, we were impressed with how quickly they got up to speed and gave a funding commitment, which allowed us to proceed with the transaction.

“Given the nature of the deal, OakNorth remained flexible and adapted the funding solution to our changing needs. We’re excited by the opportunity to grow Plexus Law, and OakNorth have enabled our first step.”

OakNorth’s CEO and co-founder, Rishi Khosla, said the bank was comfortable with the transaction after coming to understand Plexus Law and the ambitions of the management team.

He commented: “From initial submissions to transferring funds, [the deal] took less than three weeks.

“We think that is exactly what the UK’s entrepreneurs and business owners want from their bank.”

OakNorth said it believes Plexus Law’s strength in the defendant claims legal market puts it in a good position to achieve growth in the future.

The bank’s deal team director, Toby Deane, said: “This transaction has been a great example of our client, their advisor and OakNorth Bank working very well together.

“OakNorth had the right people involved, fast decision making and a ‘can do’ attitude.”

Earlier this month, OakNorth secured £66m in equity investment from Indiabulls, one of the largest non-bank SME lenders in India.

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