News

Five Arrows Principal Investments, the corporate private equity business of Rothschild Merchant Banking, has acquired a minority stake in London-based Opus 2 International, a provider of collaborative legal technology. No financial terms were disclosed.

PRESS RELEASE

Opus 2 International (“Opus 2”), the British global leader in collaborative legal technology, has received a significant minority investment from Five Arrows Principal Investments (“Five Arrows”), the corporate private equity business of Rothschild Merchant Banking which is the investment arm of Rothschild & Co.”

Founded in 2008 and headquartered in London, Opus 2 provides a range of collaborative software and services for use throughout the litigation and arbitration lifecycle. Its innovative technologies have been instrumental in the global move towards paperless trials and hearings, thus speeding up legal processes while also creating a massive environmental dividend.

The Company employs 150 staff worldwide with offices in London, Edinburgh, San Francisco, New York and Singapore. Since its founding, Opus 2 has delivered double digit revenue growth every year with 65 per cent compounded topline growth over the past eight years thanks primarily to the continuing global expansion of its customer base.

The catalyst for much of Opus 2’s growth to date has been its patented, cloud-based Opus 2 Magnum platform, which streamlines legal proceedings, facilitating secure collaboration throughout litigation and arbitration matters and enabling hearings to be conducted electronically, generating significant cost savings. Since it was first used in the UK courts on the Berezovsky v Abramovich trial in 2011, Magnum has become a near industry standard for document heavy disputes in the UK, with over 90% of the top 50 UK law firms counted among its clients.

Opus 2 has continued to expand internationally, providing the Opus 2 Magnum platform and additional hearing room services on cases across Europe, the Middle East and Asia. In the US, the Opus 2 Magnum platform is being adopted on an enterprise basis by some of the largest law firms in the world and has revolutionised the process of case analysis, deposition preparation and transcript management.

In addition, the latest products developed by Opus 2 – Forum and Annotate – are beginning to establish themselves in the areas of corporate due diligence and verification. Opus 2 Forum offers the very latest in mergers and acquisition technology, providing a virtual data room fully equipped for streamlined due diligence.

Graham Smith, CEO and founder of Opus 2, said: “We are delighted to have Five Arrows Principal Investments as our chosen investor in Opus 2 International. By taking a significant equity stake in the company, Five Arrows has demonstrated a shared faith in our long-term vision and strategy for the business, its products and its staff.

“Our partnership with Five Arrows will enable us to enhance our investment in the growth of our core litigation and arbitration business to ensure we carry on innovating and supporting our rapidly expanding client base.”

“Our sector expertise, commitment to quality service and core underlying technology uniquely equip us to address the changing and highly specialist needs of all of our clients. We are confident that with the financial and strategic support of Five Arrows, we will continue to deliver breakthrough solutions for our clients that will transform the legal technology services industry and in the process create multiple opportunities for long-term growth at Opus 2.”

Javed Khan, Co-Managing Partner of Five Arrows said: “We are very pleased to have partnered with Graham and the rest of his management team as Opus 2 begins this very exciting phase of its journey. As an investment house, we have a long held interest in investing in software and technology-enabled businesses that serve the legal industry. Given the mission criticality of its product offering, the demonstrably high level of customer advocacy and the company’s unrelenting focus on being the industry’s innovator, Opus 2 is an ideal investment for Five Arrows. ”

In selecting Five Arrows as its investment partner Opus 2 International was advised by San Francisco, boutique investment bank Vista Point Advisors, a member of FINRA and SIPC.