The private equity fund that owns American Lawyer Media (ALM) – which operates Law.com and runs the Legal Week event in New York – has bought major ALSP Integreon.
In the deal, EagleTree Capital bought Integreon for an undisclosed sum from NewQuest Capital Partners, another private equity firm.
NewQuest became an owner of the company back in 2016, holding the steadily growing ALSP for about five years before selling it on. Major investors at that time had included Actis and also the Ayala Corporation, the oldest conglomerate in the Philippines, which initially invested in Integreon in 2006 through LiveIt Investments.
Elevate’s CEO, Liam Brown, who was previously also the boss of Integreon, left the ALSP he’d helped to build back in 2011. Integreon began as far back as 2001.
As you can see, Integreon has been growing and changing ownership, and leadership, now for 20 years, and no doubt its new owners will sell on its interest in a few years as well. Or, who knows, maybe they might try and take Integreon into an IPO at some stage in the future to get an even better exit?
One thing is clear is that the ALSP that offers litigation support, contracting, and legal admin services has grown. It now has around 3,500 staff globally. When it was last sold in 2016 it had around 2,400 staff.
It is understood that the current management team will stay in place.
Bob Rowe, Chief Executive Officer of Integreon, said: ‘EagleTree has a long history of investing in companies considered to be best-in-class in their respective industries and helping them accelerate growth, so we are delighted that EagleTree has chosen to partner with us.’
‘Integreon will continue to execute on its current strategy, now bolstered by EagleTree’s resources and expertise. We have experienced tremendous expansion in recent years and we look forward to working with EagleTree to continue that growth.’
So, what does this all mean?
The fact that EagleTree also owns ALM is fascinating, and perhaps knowledge of the legal market has helped this fund to focus on Integreon. But, as with many other private equity funds, they have a portfolio of companies across many different sectors. They don’t have a special focus on legal. So, this looks like just a coincidence.
More broadly it’s another part of the wider story about Big Money being a key part of the legal services provider and legal tech scene. Although in the case of ALSPs, large investors have been focused here for some time.
Will it have a big impact on Integreon? Probably not, unless they aim for a listing at some point. More likely is that they will keep funding growth, perhaps support some acquisitions of other companies in the same area or in an adjacent space, and they will keep making their asset more valuable so they can sell it again. And so it goes. Invest, grow, sell….invest, grow, sell.
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