Equistone sells First Assist Legal Expenses for £28m

Private equity firm Equistone Partners Europe has sold after-the-event insurance company First Assist Legal Expenses to Burford Capital for around £28m.

First Assist Legal Expenses specialises in commercial litigation, is based in Croydon and has 32 staff.

Equistone, previously Barclays Private Equity, has now sold all parts of the First Assist Group which it bought from RSA in 2003. It did this by splitting the group up into separate parts.

Last month Equistone sold First Assist Insurance Services for £71m to US health insurer Cigna. In 2010 it sold FirstAssist Services Holdings to Capita for £12.5m, and in 2006 it sold the Private Medical Insurance arm to Standard Life Healthcare for £25m.

First Assist Legal Expenses chief executive Peter Smith said: “Our demerger and re-branding earlier this year has enabled us to focus more effectively on our specialised ATE products and take full advantage of the expanding market for ATE insurance in the UK.”

Equistone investment director Andrew Backen said: “First Assist Legal Expenses is a high quality team, well placed to capitalise on the opportunities offered as part of an international litigation funding group.”