Dechert, FFW and Slaughters take on Schroders’ acquisition of RWC

Dechert represented long-standing client RWC with a team led by partner Graham Defries that also included financial services partners Stuart Martin and Gus Black, tax partner David Gubbay, and associate David Willbe.

Slaughters corporate partner Oliver Wareham advised FTSE100 company Schroders, while Field ­Fisher Waterhouse partner Nicholas Thompsell led the team advising CWP’s three founding shareholders.

Schroders, which manages funds totalling around £168bn, acquired the 49 per cent stake from third-party and individual shareholders. RWC manages funds worth £2bn and had gross assets of £2bn when the deal was completed on 21 June.

Defries said: “The deal had to be done at lightning speed. Everyone was concerned about the Budget and felt this was an opportunistic transaction, and that we had to press ahead with the conditions that the founders and shareholders were happy with.

“All parties were keen to get a decision made quickly and there’s nothing like a potential tax change to focus the mind and get people fired up enough to want to do a transaction.”

He added: “Schroders is a publicly listed company and this was a price-sensitive transaction, so another interesting aspect of the deal was the need for secrecy.”

Dechert has recently advised BNY Mellon Asset Management in its £235m acquisition of Insight Investment Management from Lloyds Banking Group.