BigHand Partner with Levine Leichtman Capital Partners for Next Phase of Growth


Today BigHand announced that a sale has been agreed between its current owners Bridgepoint Development Capital (BDC) and Levine Leichtman Capital Partners (“LLCP”), a global private equity firm.

BigHand is a leader in workflow, productivity and profitability software and has over 3,500 clients and 600,000 users worldwide.  Since BDC’s initial investment, BigHand has transitioned to being a multi-product company, more than doubled employee headcount, completed six successful acquisitions and seen significant revenue growth across the UK, North America and APAC regions.

Now, supported by LLCP, BigHand plans to accelerate its growth. Under the umbrella vision of empowering the business of law, BigHand’s central strategic aims include; continuing its transformation into being a full workflow business, establishing a wider customer base throughout North America, further integrating and cloud-enabling the expanding product portfolio while also acting as the most trusted legal technology provider.

Sam Toulson, CEO, BigHand commented “This is a very exciting time for BigHand, our team and all of our clients globally.  Our new partnership with LLCP will allow us to continue to deliver market leading products all designed to help our customers continue to evolve their business models in line with the ever-changing legal landscape.  Our clients are at the heart of everything we do.  LLCP recognized that our client-led innovation approach has enabled us to build solutions that are bringing significant value to our customers and were excited by our product strategy to enhance this further. This is definitely the start of a next chapter for BigHand.”

John O’Neill, a Senior Managing Director at LLCP, said, “We are excited to partner with Sam and the BigHand management team, who have successfully built a great company in the dynamic legal technology sector.  We look forward to supporting them in expanding the business organically and through acquisitions where it makes sense for customers.”

Toulson continued “I would like to take this opportunity to thank our team of BigHanders for their hard work, commitment and energy.  Without them what we’ve achieved and what we want to achieve wouldn’t be possible.  Equally, my thanks to BDC for their support and guidance over the past several years.”

Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.

   

 

About Levine Leichtman Capital Partners

Levine Leichtman Capital Partners, LLC is a middle-market private equity firm with a 37-year track record of successfully investing across various targeted sectors, including franchising, professional services, education and engineered products. LLCP utilizes a differentiated Structured Private Equity investment strategy, combining debt and equity capital investments in portfolio companies. This unique structure provides a less dilutive solution for management teams and entrepreneurs, while delivering growth and income with a significantly lower risk profile.

LLCP's global team of dedicated investment professionals is led by seven partners who have worked together for an average of 21 years. Since inception, LLCP has managed approximately $11 billion of institutional capital across 14 investment funds and has invested in over 85 portfolio companies. LLCP currently manages approximately $7 billion of assets – including its most recent flagship fund, Levine Leichtman Capital Partners VI, L.P., which closed in 2018 with $2.5 billion of committed capital – and has offices in Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Charlotte, Miami, London, Stockholm and The Hague.