Helphire acquires CS2 Group

Helphire has announced it has entered into a commercial agreement with CS2 Lawyers and has acquired the CS2 Group of legal services businesses, comprising Fleet Legal, a vehicle fleet accident manager, E-Claim, a provider of legal expenses insurance and Medirep Marketing, a medico-legal reporting agency.

Helphire’s total investment in these new operations is £10.7million.

The CS2 Group is based in Chesterfield, Derbyshire and has over 200 employees. CS2 Lawyers handled over 10,000 Uninsured Loss Recovery (ULR) motor claims last year.

Fleet Legal provides accident management services to over 60,000 vehicles. E-Claim provides before-the-event legal expense insurance policies to a policyholder base in excess of 100,000.

Medirep is an in-house medical reporting agency which arranges reports for injured victims of accidents whose claims are being handled by CS2 Lawyers Limited.

Mark Jackson, chief executive of Helphire Group said: “The legal services market is of significant interest to Helphire. We believe the acquisition of the CS2 Group of legal businesses and the closer links with CS2 Lawyers will further enable us to realise significant cost and revenue synergies and work to strengthen our presence as a market leader in motor claims management.”

The company also announced that it has entered into new banking facilities with its syndicate of banks. A £150m facility incorporating term loans and a revolving facility have been put in place from 1 August at a cost ranging from 0.95% to 1.4% above LIBOR dependant upon specific financial ratios.