Beachcroft has acquired the insurance business of Kingslegal, taking it into the Welsh legal market for the first time.
As part of the deal, Beachcroft will acquire the Newport office of Kingslegal which has a 109 staff working on personal injury (PI) claims. Kingslegal counts insurance giants Axa and Zurich among its clients, both of which use Beachcroft to defend PI claims.
The Welsh firm will continue to operate on a smaller basis doing volume work such as mortgage lender claims.
Kingslegal’s assets will be acquired by B2 From Beachcroft, a limited company which has been established by the partnership. The firm has appointed Nathan Butcher to lead the new venture. Butcher previously headed the Beachcroft’s marketing and business development group.
“The intention is to grow this centre over time,” he said.
It is the third new office that Beachcroft has opened in the last year. In October the firm acquired Eversheds’ clinical negligence teams in Leeds and Newcastle (20 October) and in March, the firm launched in Dublin.
A bold move in the financially declining legal market. Given Beachcroft’s size this seems to be a real demonstration of intent in the insurance sector. Perhaps they deserve to be taken a bit more seriously by the bigger players…