Epiq Acquires Garden City Group
Historic Combination of the Industry’s Two Leading Legal Services Providers Expands Leadership in Class Action, Mass Tort, Data Breach and Corporate Restructuring
Epiq, a global leader in the legal services industry, today announced that it has acquired Garden City Group (GCG) from Crawford & Company® (www.crawfordandcompany.com) (NYSE:CRD-A) (NYSE:CRD-B), the world’s largest publicly-listed independent provider of claims management solutions to insurance companies and self-insured entities. GCG provides legal administration services for class action, bankruptcy, mass tort, regulatory matters, and legal notice programs.
“The addition of GCG to our leading class action, mass tort, data breach, and restructuring business represents an unprecedented combination of expertise, knowledge, and resources that has never before been leveraged on such a massive scale in our industry,” said John Davenport, Jr., chief executive officer of Epiq. “Joining forces with GCG demonstrates our commitment to this industry and to creating unmatched settlement and bankruptcy solutions for our clients.”
“This is an important strategic transaction for Crawford that allows us to further concentrate our attention and resources on high-growth business segments where we have established leadership positions,” said Harsha V. Agadi, president and CEO of Crawford & Company. “Just as importantly, we have found a great home for our legal administrative services business and the dedicated GCG employees to continue to excel and succeed.”
Combined operations include two state-of-the-art print, mail, and contact center locations in Beaverton, Oregon and Dublin, Ohio as well as call centers in Phoenix and Tampa, Florida.
As a result of the transaction, GCG will rebrand as Epiq in the fourth quarter of 2018.
Advisors for the transaction included Alvarez & Marsal, Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP, and Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP.
About Crawford
Based in Atlanta, Crawford & Company (NYSE:CRD‐A) (NYSE:CRD‐B) is the world’s largest publicly listed independent provider of claims management solutions to insurance companies and self‐insured entities with an expansive global network serving clients in more than 70 countries. The Company’s two classes of stock are substantially identical, except with respect to voting rights and the Company’s ability to pay greater cash dividends on the non-voting Class A Common Stock (CRD-A) than on the voting Class B Common Stock (CRD-B), subject to certain limitations. In addition, with respect to mergers or similar transactions, holders of CRD-A must receive the same type and amount of consideration as holders of CRD-B, unless different consideration is approved by the holders of 75 percent of CRD-A, voting as a class. More information is available at www.crawfordandcompany.com.
About Epiq
Epiq, a global leader in the legal services industry, takes on large-scale, increasingly complex tasks for corporate counsel, law firms, and business professionals with efficiency, clarity, and confidence. Clients rely on Epiq to streamline the administration of business operations, class action and mass tort, court reporting, eDiscovery, regulatory, compliance, restructuring, and bankruptcy matters. Epiq subject-matter experts and technologies create efficiency through expertise and deliver confidence to high-performing clients around the world. Learn more at www.epiqglobal.com.