Magic circle firm Allen & Overy has sold a majority stake in its risk management business to private equity investors.
The subscription platform aosphere will become a stand-alone entity following an investment from Inflexion Partnership Capital II and Endicott Capital. A&O will retain a ‘significant minority’ stake in the business it created in 2002.
Aosphere serves around 725 blue-chip clients including banks, asset management and corporates, who pay a subscription for compliance advice on areas such as financial derivatives, cross-border marketing and data privacy.
The platform provides standardised legal analysis on legal risk compliance working with local counsel across the globe.
The new investors say they want to create a scaled, worldwide regulatory data business, in particular growing the business in the US. The money paid and the size of the stake bought has not been disclosed.
David Whileman, partner and head of Inflexion Partnership Capital, said: ‘The sector is one we’ve tracked for some time as heightened regulatory scrutiny and complexity have led to growing demand for efficiency and thus outsourcing in legal spend.’
A&O, which is in the process of merging with US…
