Dickson Minto, widely regarded as the UK's most successful corporate finance boutique, is gearing up for a radical strategic u-turn as an internal document seen by Legal Week concedes that the firm cannot survive independently.

The 14-partner firm, which is best known for its respected private equity practice, is working on a plan to secure a formal European alliance as a precurser to a merger in the wake of a strategy review completed last September.

Dickson Minto is understood to be preparing to send partners on a meet-and-greet tour around Europe to open negotiations next month.

The European bid comes in the wake of the internal strategy review, in which the firm's managing partner, Alastair Dickson, states that the "status quo is not sustainable in the long term".

According to the report, a failure to secure a European network, will leave the firm with "the only credible long-term solution of merging with an English firm…which appears to have a future".

Dickson concludes a failure to come up with a credible plan would leave the firm, "milking the franchise, clearly possible in the short to medium term, but no longer than that", as the firm comes under pressure to provide more corporate support and international law.

The strategic u-turn at Dickson Minto, long regarded as a standard bearer for independent corporate firms, raises further questions about the future of the UK's dwindling band of successful niche corporate firms.

The future direction of Dickson Minto will be watched closely by international firms that are eager to acquire a respected UK firm, although the strategy document reports a "general antipathy among the partners for a link-up with a US firm".

The document makes it clear that the firm has largely discounted building up solely through organic growth, although the firm has also recognised that expertise in competition, employment, IP and IT is being demanded by transactional clients.