Morae Global Corporation has acquired US enterprise content management services provider Adaptive Solutions with backing from existing investor Lateral Investment Management, as well as new funding from global investment management firm BlackRock.
Morae today (17 August) announced the expansion of the company’s North American and Asian operations and business with the strategic acquisition, which builds upon Morae’s earlier acquisitions of Sydney-based Trinogy in January 2021 and London-based Phoenix Business Solutions in May 2019.;new advadsCfpAd( 155475 );;new advadsCfpAd( 163652 );;new advadsCfpAd( 155474 );;new advadsCfpAd( 155475 );;new advadsCfpAd( 163652 );( window.advanced_ads_ready || jQuery( document ).ready ).call( null, function() {var $legalslider1964046011 = jQuery( “.legal-slider-1964046011” );$legalslider1964046011.on( “unslider.ready”, function() { jQuery( “div.custom-slider ul li” ).css( “display”, “block” ); });$legalslider1964046011.unslider({ delay:10000, autoplay:true, nav:false, arrows:false, infinite:true });$legalslider1964046011.on(“mouseover”, function(){$legalslider1964046011.unslider(“stop”);}).on(“mouseout”, function() {$legalslider1964046011.unslider(“start”);});});
President and CEO Shahzad Bashir said: “This enables Morae to digitize information management for law firms and legal departments globally, building upon our dominant position in Europe and Australia. Our goal is to make legal executives the most informed and connected executives in the legal industry.”
All three members of the Adaptive executive leadership team – Dean Bartholomew, Chuck Davis and Adam Doblo – will take on roles at Morae as managing directors in the US with a continued focus on their existing clients and portfolio. Adaptive’s wider team of consulting, implementation and support professionals will integrate with Morae’s existing North American, European and Asian digital transformation teams.;new advadsCfpAd( 163650 );;new advadsCfpAd( 163901 );;new advadsCfpAd( 156117 );;new advadsCfpAd( 163650 );;new advadsCfpAd( 163901 );( window.advanced_ads_ready || jQuery( document ).ready ).call( null, function() {var $legalslider1230648369 = jQuery( “.legal-slider-1230648369” );$legalslider1230648369.on( “unslider.ready”, function() { jQuery( “div.custom-slider ul li” ).css( “display”, “block” ); });$legalslider1230648369.unslider({ delay:10000, autoplay:true, nav:false, arrows:false, infinite:true });$legalslider1230648369.on(“mouseover”, function(){$legalslider1230648369.unslider(“stop”);}).on(“mouseout”, function() {$legalslider1230648369.unslider(“start”);});});
iManage recently recognized both Adaptive and Morae among its best partners in the world and it is hoped that mutual clients will benefit from Morae and Adaptive’s relationship with iManage and other technology partners.
Mathew Crocker, chief strategy officer at Morae, said in a statement: “Morae is deeply committed to providing positive outcomes to the complex challenges our clients face. The legal industry was already in the midst of widespread global change, including a significant uptick in cloud migration and technology adoption, which has been heightened by the strain from the pandemic and a seismic shift in working practices. We are perfectly positioned to drive change within the industry through our successful approach to digital and business transformation where market demand is greater than ever for highly resilient, transparent, and efficient solutions.”
Meanwhile, as part of the new financing, Lateral will become Morae’s majority shareholder, with BlackRock in the role of senior lender and minority shareholder
“The closure of this new funding marks a milestone in Morae’s remarkable journey and in our mission to transform the legal industry through our vision, people and technology,” said Shahzad Bashir, chairman and CEO at Morae. “We are grateful to our new and existing investors for their commitment and support which adds momentum for the next stage of Morae’s continued growth and development.”
Zachary Viders, managing director for global credit opportunities at BlackRock said, “We are very excited to invest in Morae, which has established itself with a unique brand and valued reputation as a global provider of digital and business transformation solutions for the legal, compliance, and risk management markets. We were impressed with the company’s leadership team and vision, business strategy and their tangible capability to deliver the outcomes their clients care about most.”
Founded in 2015 by industry veterans, Morae has grown from its initial roots in strategic advisory services to include a range of technology-enabled and managed services from offices across four continents. Along with its organic growth, a series of M&A deals served to accelerate this growth, including a 2017 merger with Clutch Group and acquisitions of AegisAdvantage (2017), Phoenix Business Solutions (2019), Janders Dean (2020), and Trinogy Systems (2021).
According to transaction experts and advisers Cascade Partners, Lateral previously made up to $30m available to acquire Phoenix.
Caroline.hill@legalitlexicon.com