Slater and Gordon cutting UK operations adrift
Listed firm Slater and Gordon is to break off its UK operation to focus fully on the Australian business.
The Law Gazette has reported directors unanimously voted to support recapitalisation of the business to effectively hand over control to international hedge funds.
As a result, UK operations and subsidiaries will be separated from the listed company and transferred to a new UK holding company, UK HoldCo, wholly owned by the senior lenders.
The Gazette said that, following separation, existing shareholders of the company will cease to have any interest in UK operations.
Slater and Gordon told the Australian Stock Exchange: “The company believes the separation of the UK operations provides the best option to enable both the Australian and UK operations to succeed in their own right and will enable the company to focus its management’s time and resources on the Australian business.”
The move follows a turbulent five years since Slater and Gordon, one of Australia’s biggest law firms, bought UK firm Russell Jones & Walker.
There followed a series of other acquisitions as the firm built a 20-strong network of offices across the UK that today employs more than 3,000 people (that number has fallen by around 10% since last year.
