Watchstone Group, formerly known as Quindell, an insurance claims processor, has been trying to shake-off the negativity surrounding its predecessor – but now its attempts to move on have been dealt another blow.
That’s because Slater and Gordon, the Australia-listed law firm, has outlined its intentions to take the company to court relating to its own £673 million acquisition of the company’s professional services division.
On June 30, the company took an $879.5 million impairment largely because of its acquisition of the Quindell professional services arm. Shortly after the acquisition was made, Quindell was investigated by the UK Serious Fraud Office for its accounting and business practices with Slater and Gordon then taking another hit in November when the UK government introduced plans to limit the number of personal injury claims.
Now, according to a
Financial Times report, S&G has issued a statement outlining that it “intends to bring claims against Watchstone arising from SGH UK’s purchase of Quindell’s Professional Services Division.”
In its statement it noted that it had “previously informed the ASX that £50 million of the purchase price for the acquisition would be held in escrow against warranty claims that may arise under the Share Purchase Agreement.”
Should claims under the agreement fail to be resolved ahead of the November 29 escrow release date, or indeed not meet the outlined threshold requirements, “including a merits assessment by an independent barrister, part or the whole of that amount may be retained in the escrow account subject to resolution of that claim.”
The company did note when it released financial results in August that it was encouraged by a turnaround in its UK business.
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