A specialist offshore professional services group has announced that private equity has bought a minority stake in the business.

Mourant, which combines legal, governance and consulting services, has taken investment from MML, a specialist minority provider of partnership capital. According to the Financial Times, the stake is 27%

It is understood that the existing Mourant leaders will remain at the core of the business and have co-invested along with MML. Market analysts say the deal is a sign of an increasing trend where private equity is seen as a partner and growth catalyst rather than a new owner. MML is already present in the legal sector, having taken a minority stake in Rouse, an intellectual property firm, in 2022.

Mourant, which employs around 1,000 people and would sit in the top 50 law firms based on revenue, says it will use the investment to develop AI-enabled systems and data infrastructure. The money will also support what the company calls ‘measured geographic expansion’ across the world’s leading international financial centres, including through carefully selected acquisitions, strategic law firm partnerships and lateral hires.

Jonathan Rigby, Mourant CEO, commented: ‘We have built something genuinely distinctive – an enduring multi-disciplinary professional services group that serves the world’s most sophisticated institutional clients across legal, governance and consulting, all under one umbrella. This investment does not change what we are building. It changes the pace at which we can build it.’

Mourant Group Limited will continue to wholly own the governance and consulting businesses, as well as Mourant’s operational infrastructure and brand, while continuing to supply managed services to separate law firm entities.

Control of the group, and its leadership, will remain with Mourant’s existing owners. Control and ownership of the law firm entities will remain with the relevant locally- qualified partners.

The firm advises on the laws of the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, Guernsey, Jersey and Luxembourg and provides specialist entity management, governance, regulatory and consulting services. It has offices in a number of the world’s leading international finance centres, including London, Singapore and Hong Kong.

David Morley, strategic adviser for legal businesses whose firm Dejonghe & Morley LLP advised on the deal, said the 27% minority equity investment was a sign of what is to come.

Morley said: ‘The structure is as interesting as the deal. Mourant wanted growth capital and an active growth partner while its owner-managers kept control, and those owner-managers are co-investing alongside MML.

‘Minority investment remains rare in the legal sector. On the evidence of this deal, it is likely to become a more important part of the options open to larger firms, particularly those looking for a growth partner rather than a buyer.’