Hill Dickinson has sold its Chester office to Knights Solicitors for an undisclosed fee following a review of its UK-wide business.

The move, which will see the transfer of four partners and 20 staff, is the first acquisition by the Knights since the James Caan-led private equity house Hamilton Bradshaw bought a stake in the firm in June 2012.

The transfer of the office, which contains corporate and private client-led teams, is due to take place on 1 October.

The Chester addition will hand Knights its third office on top of its bases in Staffordshire and Gloucester, while Hill Dickinson will now operate from five offices across Liverpool, Manchester, Sheffield and London.

Hill Dickinson managing partner Peter Jackson (pictured) said: "Although we were approached by a number of impressive interested parties, we felt that Knight's business model and entrepreneurial approach would provide an expansive and rewarding future for the Chester office as a whole and for its individuals – and we feel it will be in very safe hands.

Knights managing partner David Beech said: "The Chester office of Hill Dickinson provides the full range of legal services and is a natural fit for Knights as we expand our footprint throughout the UK. This investment, together with the other major successes we've enjoyed in the past 12 months, puts us in a very strong position to realise our ambitions."

Knights gained its alternative business structure licence in January earlier this year allowing the firm to leverage the private equity investment. The ambitious firm has targeted a place in the top 100 and has hired more than 40 lawyers in the space of 12 months. Its current turnover is £9.4m.

Hill Dickinson announced its UK review at the end of April and, despite cutting its Chester base, more redundancies are expected to follow as the firm focuses on international growth. The firm recently announced a mixed set of financial results with revenue up 2% to £112.8m while profits per equity partner suffered a 15% drop to £264,000.