Global claims management group Crawford & Company has acquired Australia’s HBA Group, a law firm with a significant presence in the insurance industry servicing underwriters, brokers and other insurance-related businesses.

The purchase, which includes an initial lump sum payment of $US5 million ($6.9 million), will strengthen the offerings and presence of Crawford Legal Services, the US-listed business says in a statement released overnight in London.

HBA Group comprises of HBA Legal, claims management business Paratus plus legal process and technology provider Pillion. HBA Legal works with underwriters, brokers, insurers and self-insured companies across Australia and the London market.

With the acquisition, Crawford Legal Services says it will become a leading legal services partner to clients across Australia, providing a unique and disruptive business-to-business integrated claims and legal model for the Australian legal and insurance markets.

“We see significant opportunity to expand our legal service capabilities in Australia,” Crawford President Joseph Blanco said. “With its market standing, geographical reach and depth of expertise, HBA Group provides a fantastic platform from which to restore and enhance lives, businesses and communities."

HBA Group MD Brett Ablong says becoming part of the Crawford family “creates huge potential” for the business.

“For HBA Legal it means we keep servicing clients as we have for the past decade, so that’s clients who may not interact with any other parts of the Crawford business,” Mr Ablong told insuranceNEWS.com.au today. “But then this enables us to tap into other parts of the Crawford business to be part of that end-to-end offering which really gives us a platform for considerable growth as a firm.

“We can now genuinely offer insurance clients something that no other law firm can offer.”

Now that HBA is the Australian arm of Crawford Legal Services, Mr Ablong says Crawford “is really the only provider to bring insurance clients a full claims, legal and risk management service in one seamless package”.

“It’s positively game-changing for the insurance industry,” he said.

He says the idea for Crawford to create a global law firm has largely come from client feedback.

“Crawford has been using this end-to-end idea, which includes legal, for around three years within its UK operating model and with great success,” Mr Ablong said. “What this means is that Crawford in Australia can now offer a complete end-to-end claims management offering to its clients across the insurance industry.”

Crawford Legal Services was formed in the UK in 2016 and is an integrated part of the Crawford & Company claims management process.

The terms of the purchase involve an initial lump sum payment of $US5 million and a maximum $US3.2 million ($4.5 million) over the next four years if certain revenue and earnings goals are achieved.