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Global investment manager Fortress Investment Group announced plans to acquire litigation funder Vannin Capital on Friday, almost a year after Vannin put plans for an IPO on hold.

In a deal expected to close in October, New York-based Fortress will acquire 100% of the equity in Vannin from existing shareholders, including majority owner Bramden Investments, a private equity vehicle funded entirely by DLA Group, a family office based in the Isle of Man. The value of the deal is confidential.

"We are pleased to announce the sale of our interests in Vannin Capital to Fortress Investment Group. Over the last few months, as we evaluated how best to accelerate future growth, we have received several offers for the business," Bramden founder and managing director Dan Craddock said in a statement. "Fortress represented the strongest choice in all respects, not least due to its established position in the market and its longstanding relationship with Vannin."

Fortress, which manages assets on behalf of more than 1,750 institutional clients and private investors worldwide, employs investment strategies that encompass credit and real estate, private equity and permanent capital. As of March 31, it had approximately $39.2 billion of assets under management.

Fortress, founded in 1998, is no stranger to the world of commercial litigation finance. In February 2017, it put $100 million into a new investment entity operated by Australia-based IMF Bentham, which added $33 million of its own. A year later, they both agreed to upsize the fund to $166.3 million, with Fortress putting in 75% of the additional investment. It's also been linked to investments in mass tort litigation.

"Vannin has been a leading investor and innovator in the litigation finance space, and we've enjoyed our partnership to date," Gordon Runté of Fortress said in a statement. "We believe this acquisition is a logical next step and natural fit for our business, and it will complement the breadth of our relationships and leadership in the space."

Vannin, founded in the U.K., had been poised to issue roughly $90 million in new shares on the London Stock Exchange in October 2018, but the company scrapped the plans, pointing to volatile market conditions.

"We are under no pressure to list the company in the near term and prefer to wait until market conditions are more suitable," Vannin CEO Richard Hextall said at the time.

Another business adjacent to the traditional law firm world, legal services and staffing provider Axiom, announced on Thursday that it would scrap its own proposed IPO, slated for an undisclosed U.S. exchange, in favour of a majority investment by European private equity firm Permira.

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