Slater & Gordon plans to sue Watchstone Group, formerly known as Quindell, over the disastrous £637m acquisition of its professional service business.
 
The Australian firm acquired the professional services division of UK insurance claims processor Quindell in March last year. Proudly announcing the purchase, S&G's managing director Grech said that the acquisition followed “a very extensive due diligence process”, adding that the decision would "bring benefits to our clients, staff and shareholders". At the time of the purchase there was a dossier available by Gotham City Research detailing problems with Quindell, but Grech presumably waived it away as he welcomed the wooden Greek horse into the Trojan ramparts.

Just a few months after the acquisition, the Financial Conduct Authority investigated Quindell over irregularities in its financials, and Quindell was forced to confess that it had overstated its accounts and revenue. In March 2016, S&G revealed huge losses in its own accounts. The plunge was mainly attributable to S&G's write-down of goodwill since it had vastly overestimated the money-spinning potential of noise-induced hearing claims and other matters on Quindell's books. Grech offered to resign when the losses were revealed but S&G's management told him to stay, perhaps to face the mess, much like a puppy's nose being pressed firmly into its own poo. And his nose seems to still be caked in it, as further losses were revealed last month.

Barely

The Australian firm is now looking to sue Watchstone Group. If  S&G is successful it may be able to claw back £50m of the purchase price of Quindell that was placed into escrow in case the deal went sour.

Watchstone said that it did “not believe that there are grounds for a claim to be brought and will defend it robustly”, adding that the sale was “professional and transparent”.