mishcon floats

Prepare for Mishcorp.


Mishcon de Reya's partners have voted to float their firm on the London Stock Exchange, with staff set to receive shares in the business.

It has been predicted that Mishcon will become the most valuable listed law firm in the UK and reach as much as £750m, more than double the valuations of listed UK firms like DWF (circa £275m), RollOnFriday Firm of the Year 2021 Keystone Law (£210m), and Golden Turd-adjacent Knights (£350m). But it could be £1bn. Or £500m. No-one knows and Mischon isn't saying.

Mishcon voted In April to explore an initial public offering, and instructed JP Morgan to advise on the mooted IPO. On Monday, its circa 150 partners, all of whom have equity, voted again and now it is a question of when, not if, the firm will attempt to float.

The final tally to green light the IPO was well above the 75% threshold required to approve pushing for an IPO, RollOnFriday understands, and while the votes of those with more equity carry more weight in partnership votes, the number of partners voting to try to Mishcoin it was also understood to be substantial.

Expansion, investment and fast fortunes for senior partners in management have followed other law firm floats, sometimes to the chagrin of more junior employees without a stake in the stock, but Mishcon confirmed that its plan still included dishing out shares to every member of staff.

It still wouldn't be drawn on the details of who would get how much, having previously emphasised instead that income would be used to grow the business in Asia and attract new talent.

Mishcon had previously noted a regulatory issue, believed to relate to a client account snafu for which it is being prosecuted by the SRA, which it has said it does not expect to be an obstacle. 


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Comments

Anon 10 September 21 09:14

All staff at Mishcon were once given £20 cash in an envelope as a Christmas bonus. I expect the gifting of shares to the staff will prove to be a similar exercise. 

Anon 10 September 21 10:29

I for one will certainly be investing in Mischon Plc. Sounds like a solid company with great prospects.

Beer and Loathing 10 September 21 11:07

You'd be mad to buy shares in a floated law firm. The key players stay during the lock-in whilst quietly exporting their clients to the next venture run by their friends or family, then bale out to a more lucrative deatination and the business goes to sh!t.

Just google "Slater and Gordon share price" or "DWF share price" and look at the trajectory and you'll see what I mean...

Jeb Bush 10 September 21 11:20

There will be massive Partner upheaval from this, the reality is that when you have to pay investors, you cant pay Partners and other employees as much. Mishcon has no requirement for a 'War Chest'. They just agreed £150m in litigation funding (so don't need it for that), there only overseas office (New York) was an abject failure, and they are already a full service law firm, so mergers are going to be few and far between. 

How will Mishcon keep up with the salary wars when they cant raise salaries? They will confine themselves to the midmarket for all eternity. 

 

That leaves us with the real reason this is going ahead. Money Money Money (for the exec committee). 

Senior Associate at Mishcons 10 September 21 18:06

You can bet your bottom dollar that me and most of the other senior associates will be polishing off the CV…selling the family silver and screwing future partners…

Another One 16 September 21 11:03

I very much doubt it will float at that level given its profit and turnover. Why would it float so high?

I also have no idea where the figures in this article come from. For example, DWF have a market cap of 367.9m, not £275m and is the largest so far.

Mr Coffee 17 September 21 05:37

As a wise head said to me recently - never invest in a business whose main assets walk out the door every day at 5.30.

 

Being a law firm maybe we should say 10.30 (on a good day).  But still...

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