Ann: Acquisition of ACA Lawyers, page-2

Interesting acquisition this one:

* Seems to be a relatively small firm of around 4 senior to very experienced male lawyers.
*Have had a lot of success in the past with shareholder class action claims
* Almost exclusively focused on shareholder class actions - a typically high margin emerging practice area for Shine
*A number of class actions underway currently though it is unclear what interest or ownership Shine has in these..
*Of course it would be great to know how much they paid for the acquisition, but given the size of the firm I would expect it to fit the pattern of shines roll-up ventures and be conservatively a small amount ( though the value of course remains to be seen)

On the plus side:

+ Good to see they have the confidence, despite rising debt, to make an acquisition. Given SHJ management are usually conservative financially this leads me to think they don't believe they will have any problems managing that debt or perhaps they are soon expecting some significant cash through the door..
+Good to see them investing further into a higher margin area of law. I'd rather see them buy more of these sorts of CA or similar firms than more personal injury firms on a lower margin of profit.